Revolution of Heroes 2: The Fate of Love
by lynne27
Summary: Even after the hazourdous adventures that had taken place only a month earlier: Squall, Rinoa, Aurora, Sirus and the gang must overcome yet another perilous threat in this epic adventure of love and friendship. Can the gang overcome the horrifying threat
1. 1,2

AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
Well, here it is! The sequel to Revolution of Heroes. I've included a little bit of the last part of the story, for those who may want to refresh on exactly what happened.. AND for some people who haven't read this, here is the address to where you'll find Revolution of Heroes and my other fics:  
  
OR, if you don't care to read the other and start right away on this one, well, I'm sure you'll pick up on what's going on soon enough but I'd recommend reading the other for details.  
  
WELL ANYWAY, I hope that you'll enjoy this one as much as the first story if not better. I do know, however, that this story has much for action and mystery. it was truly a pleasure to write and I'm hoping it will be as much to read!  
  
Previously on Revolution of Heroes..  
  
At the end: Seifer and Quistis's wedding  
  
Sirus sat beside Aurora, debating in his mind whether or not he should ask her to dance. (I should. NO. Yes.) then he said, "A.Aurora. do you want to dance?"  
  
He looked at her, thinking about what a coward he was but instead of her refusing like he'd thought she smiled and took up his hand. "I thought you'd never ask!" she said excitedly as they got onto the dance floor and began to dance.  
  
"I'm sorry." he said.  
  
"For what?" she said confusedly.  
  
"Well, you know. last month. I was, you know." he began but Aurora put a finger to his lips, "Don't worry." She said simply and the danced some more in silence.  
  
A slow song came on, it was 'Eyes on Me' and Sirus was ready to keep dancing but Aurora backed off a bit and began to walk off but Sirus grabbed her hand lightly and she turned around, it looked like a few tears were rolling down her face.  
  
"What is it?" he asked while frowning and she looked at him sadly. "It's just. this song. The first time a boy told me he loved me it was to this song. then he found out what I really was and." She stopped.  
  
Sirus stared at her, mad at who-ever this stupid guy was. "You know. if he was afraid of that then he didn't love you. anyone who really loves you wouldn't care about a silly thing like that!" he said softly and this seemed to make Aurora feel a little better and she began to dance with him again.  
  
"Aurora. would you ever consider going out with me or something.." He said, regretting it right away when he remembered that this wasn't a good time for her but she smiled anyway. "Y...Yes. I would like that, Sirus." She said softly.  
  
After she said that something happened, he wasn't sure what but her eyes turned black, her hair flared out breaking her perfect hairdue and it turned black too. Sirus held onto her, not knowing what to do, and Aurora swung her head back up and looked at Sirus before throwing him to the ground.  
  
"Aurora?" he said with his voice wavering and his eyes widening. "No. Not Aurora, you little fool. Adel!" she said in a dry harsh voice. Sirus stared at her, everyone was gathering around and her parents rushed over, shocked to see what was happening, they tried to get to her but she blasted them away.  
  
"I told her I'd be back, that little girl." said the deep harsh voice again, then she cackled, her body raised into the air and floated out the doors. Sirus looked up at her parents and are at everyone else, he wasn't the only that was dumbstruck on what just happened.  
  
~~Chapter I: The Finding  
  
As Aurora moved through the ballroom doors, Squall held his hand out to help Sirus stand up. "What was that all about. What's going on..?!?" Asked Sirus frantically, as he brushed himself off.  
  
"I don't know. but I'm about to find out.!" Squall said, with a strange look on his face. He ran after Aurora as fast as he could, with Sirus and Rinoa at his heels. The others remained in the ballroom to calm everyone down.  
  
"AURORA!!!!" Squall called, as Aurora came into their line of sight; close enough to hear them, but she did not reply, she didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact that they were running after her.  
  
"Where is she going," asked Sirus breathlessly, "I mean, there really isn't anywhere to go, is there? The garden's not in one place, we're still moving."  
  
Squall didn't answer and soon, they lost sight of her. She entered the elevator and went up. "Look's like there is somewhere for her to go." said Sirus, exasperatedly.  
  
As the three of them stood, Rinoa pressing the 'up' button quickly, Squall suddenly made a violent gesture with his fist in mid-air, as if to hit someone. "Dammit," he said, "They're still up there!"  
  
"Who?" asked Sirus.  
  
"Laguna, Kiros and Ward," said Squall, he frowned, "I'd figured they left but come to think about it, I never heard their jet take off. I hope they did leave, though. if that really isn't Aurora." Squall trailed off. The elevator door opened and they got on the empty elevator and went up.  
  
They reached the top floor where the aircraft platform was Rinoa gasped. They could see Laguna's aircraft taking off but Laguna, Kiros and Ward weren't on it, they were lying on the platform and they looked to be unconscious.  
  
"Oh my god." said Rinoa, as they walked onto the platform. Squall ran straight over to Laguna to see if he was alright.  
  
"He's fine," Squall said, standing up (he'd checked Laguna's pulse) "He just seems to be unconscious."  
  
"Kiros is fine too." Said Sirus as he checked Kiros's pulse.  
  
"Where's Ellone?" asked Rinoa.  
  
"I'm not sure." Squall said, frowning.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"What?" asked Squall urgently.  
  
Rinoa kneeled over Ward and checked his pulse. There was a long silence and finally Rinoa stood up with tears in her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing." she said sadly.  
  
Squall gaped at her. "What!" he started walking slowly towards them but stopped short and stared down.  
  
"He. he's.." Rinoa started.  
  
"No." Squall gasped.  
  
"We have to get him down to the infirmary," said Rinoa, looking back down at Ward, "I'm sure he'll be fine."  
  
Sirus had run downstairs already and by the time Rinoa and Squall were ready to leave he had six students and three stretchers; they put Laguna, Kiros and Ward on them and headed down to the infirmary; all of them fearing the worst.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------  
  
"He couldn't have died." said Laguna with his head in his hands. Laguna and Kiros awoke in the infirmary next to Ward; Squall, Rinoa and Sirus sat near them.  
  
"We. don't know for sure." said Rinoa softly, "When I checked his pulse." she trailed off.  
  
"He just. couldn't have died. not Ward, he's too strong for that." said Laguna again.  
  
"Where's Ellone?" asked Squall, suddenly.  
  
"Oh." Laguna was taken by surprise but answered quite definitely," Umm, she went back into the ballroom to talk to Zell and his wife about living in Balamb. Didn't you see her there?" he asked.  
  
"No," said Rinoa, placing a hand on Squall's arm to re-assure him that she was all right. "But I'm sure she's still there with Zell and his wife."  
  
Dr. Kadowski walked into the infirmary room and looked at them all sadly; she shook her head. "Laguna. Kiros." she started, but Laguna already had tears in his eyes, Kiros sitting there in complete shock.  
  
"I'm sorry.." She said sadly. "Ward died of severe trauma to the head." she trailed off, realizing that maybe it wasn't the right time to explain what caused his death.  
  
"Rinoa?" Dr. Kadowski asked. "Why don't you take Laguna and Kiros to the guest dormitory room. let them rest. They need it. Kiros has a concussion so he needs to rest, but not sleep, make sure he doesn't fall asleep. Laguna has a fractured skull, he should probably lie down."  
  
Rinoa nodded and summoned Kiros and Laguna to follow her, they did willingly. Laguna rubbed the back of his head where there was a piece of thick white gauze wrapped around his head. Sirus followed.  
  
"Squall." Dr. Kadowski started, but stopped, unsure about the look on Squall's face. "Maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow to tell you."  
  
"No." Squall said, "Please, just tell me now. I need to know, and we need to take action to find out what happened to Aurora."  
  
"Alright," Dr. Kadowski said, "Ward seemed to have had some sort of blast the back of his head. It seems to me that Aurora blasted all three of them in the head and took-" Squall interrupted her.  
  
"That wasn't really Aurora." he said angrily. "She'd never do that."  
  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean too.." Dr. Kadowski trailed off, not knowing what to say next.  
  
"Its alright. what were you saying?" Squall said politely.  
  
"Well." she regained her composure, "As I was saying. they seemed to all have been hit on head. with an energy blast. very hard. Obviously whoever was in Aurora must have intended them all to die but Kiros and Laguna didn't die. They're very lucky they got out with only minor injuries."  
  
"Yes. they are." Squall looked up, frowning, "What did you mean by whoever was in Aurora though?" he asked.  
  
"Well, like you said, Aurora would never do something like that, so, I assumed that maybe something is in her. or someone. like when Rinoa was possessed." said Dr. Kadowski.  
  
Squall's eyes widened. Dr. Kadowski was right, Rinoa was once possessed, by none other then Ultimecia. He ran through the night's events through his head until the point where Aurora began to act strangely.  
  
"Squall?" asked Dr. Kadowski after a moment of silence.  
  
"Oh yes, sorry. I think maybe I should head out to Quistis's office to tell her what happened. she'll need to know." Said Squall absentmindedly. "Thank you."  
  
Dr. Kadowski nodded and led Squall, who was still deep in thought about the night, out of her office. Half way down the corridor he stopped dead, his eyes widening.  
  
"It was Adel. she said so herself." Squall said out loud, thinking of the words last spoken through Aurora's mouth.  
  
"Wait a minute. Adel can't possess people. only Ultimecia can. but why would Ultimecia say it was Adel? It must be Adel." Squall thought and slowly continued through the several dark corridors, up the stairs to the elevator.  
  
He pressed the button to Quistis and Seifer's office and as doors began to shut a hand came through and prevented the doors from closing. As the doors opened Squall saw a young girl with blond curly hair, about Aurora's age standing there breathlessly.  
  
Squall put his hand on the elevator door to keep it from closing as the girl began to speak breathlessly.  
  
"Mr.. Mr. Leonhart-Loire?" Said the girl.  
  
"Yes?" said Squall, frowning.  
  
"I'm Aurora's friend, Dawn. I thought I should tell you something." Said the girl who was beginning to talk normally; she was no longer struggling for breath.  
  
"Now isn't a very good time. can't it wait?" asked Squall exasperatedly and he let go of the elevator door but Dawn caught it and kept it open.  
  
"No. really.. This is important." Said Dawn. "There's this boy, and he's disappeared, you see."  
  
"And why is this of importance to me?" said Squall impatiently.  
  
"Because the last time I saw him, Aurora was with him. She was leading him to an aircraft. He looked like a robot." Said Dawn rapturously.  
  
"What!?!" blurted out Squall, with his eyes widening. His tone of impatience was gone.  
  
"D'you know that boy that was with Aurora when she first arrived here. that Dean boy?" asked Dawn.  
  
"Yes." said Squall, knowing where this was leading.  
  
"Well, it was him. I saw him being summoned over to Aurora. He was outside the aircraft gate with some other girl. That was when I saw him, and now he's gone. What do you think this means?" asked Dawn.  
  
"I'm not sure. but I'm going to have to find out." Squall was frowning again, "Thank you," he added with a nod.  
  
"No problem, Mr. Leonhart-Loire." Said Dawn politely, but there was a look of sadness in her eyes, and Squall knew why. Aurora was gone and nobody knew what happened.  
  
"Do you think you could possibly keep this a secret for me?" Squall asked.  
  
"Alright." Said Dawn.  
  
"Oh. and don't worry. we will find her. she'll be ok." Said Squall reassuringly to Dawn, who nodded and walked away quickly, heading towards the cafeteria.  
  
Squall let the doors close, and he traveled up to Quistis and Seifer's office, feeling not so sure of what would happen, himself.  
  
~~Chapter II Theories  
  
The midnight moon shone down through the balcony doors into Quistis's office where Quistis, Seifer, Rinoa and Squall all sat on the sofa's in silence after receiving the news about Ward.  
  
"My goodness." said Quistis sadly as she shook her head, Seifer's hand placed on hers firmly but he said nothing, he just looked at everyone with sympathy. Squall figured he didn't say anything because he didn't know what to say.  
  
"I know." said Rinoa, shaking her head. "It's just terrible." Rinoa's eyes drifted out into the night sky, she seemed to be waiting for something.  
  
"And now. Aurora's gone." she trailed off, tears ran down her cheeks.  
  
Squall put his arm around her and whispered softly in her ear. "It's ok. she's not gone forever. we will find her. I promise you that."  
  
Rinoa looked at him, her eyes flickering between gratitude for Squall and the sadness of the situation.  
  
Finally Seifer spoke up. " I hate to. well, you know.." He trailed off, Squall could tell there was a guilty look in his eyes. He continued anyway. "We need to start taking action. and we need to live our lives."  
  
Squall had a mixture of feelings toward what he said, he somewhat disagreed, it seemed too soon to do anything; but Seifer was right, for once. They needed to do what they could soon, and fast.  
  
"I agree." Said Squall finally. Seifer eyes seemed to brighten up a little at that.  
  
"I should tell you this now." Squall continued. "There's been a disappearance."  
  
Quistis's head raised and her eyes widened, "Who?" she asked quickly.  
  
"Dean. the boy who showed Aurora around the first day we were here." Replied Squall.  
  
"How did you know that?" asked Rinoa.  
  
"Dawn - one of Aurora's friends saw him. he was lead away by Aurora - or whoever that was." Said Squall to all of them. He stood up and began pacing the floor, back and forth steadily.  
  
"What are we going to do?" asked Rinoa; though, her thoughts still seemed to be somewhere else.  
  
"I'm not sure yet. but we need to figure something out." Said Squall, shaking his head.  
  
"What would she want with him anyway?" asked Rinoa.  
  
Seifer spoke up again, his eyes flickering between anger and grimace. "A knight."  
  
"What?" asked Squall, almost immediately.  
  
"A knight," Seifer insisted as though it was the most obvious reason there was, "You know that every sorceress needs her knight. I was Ultimecia's, you are Rinoa's. I imagine that whoever is in there wants a knight, chose Dean. he probably has a mind like mine. He did not give his mind willingly, like me. You gave your mind to Rinoa willingly."  
  
"I suppose," Squall said thoughtfully, "But why him, there were others around. lots of people have minds that can be taken."  
  
"Well, remember when I became Ultimecia's knight? At first you thought it was Edea but it wasn't. A sorceress's night always has some sort of similarity in dreams. I wanted power, as did Ultimecia. You wanted peace and love, much like Rinoa. They have the same beliefs." Seifer said. "I imagine that whatever sorceress is inside Aurora is much like Dean."  
  
Squall nodded in understandment. "It's Adel." He said.  
  
"What? How do you know for sure?" asked Seifer.  
  
"That voice, the one that came from Aurora, said it. But I don't understand; can Adel really control people? I thought only Ultimecia could? If it was Ultimecia why would she say it was Adel..?" Asked Squall.  
  
Seifer seemed to be considering what he said for a moment but he simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm not sure. maybe Adel can. I don't know."  
  
"So, you mean Dean is Adel's knight now?" asked Quistis, "So, then, Dean must have some sort of hatred in him, right. because Adel did. what do you think they're going to do?" asked Quistis.  
  
"I'm not sure yet but we need to find out soon. I think that they will go straight to Esthar. Laguna isn't there; it will be easy for her to take over. We'd better get there right away." said Squall.  
  
"Yes, I suppose that you're right. Esthar was Adel's country. and continent. do you think she'll try to find the Lunatic Pandora?" asked Seifer.  
  
"Maybe. but she won't find it. We didn't hide it in the ocean this time, remember? Years ago, after we came back from the defeat of Ultimecia we thought it'd be safer to hide it somewhere else, somewhere not many people know about and if they do they're afraid to go there." Said Squall.  
  
"Where?" asked Seifer.  
  
"You know that gauge in Trabia. just north of Trabia Garden. we put it in there. It was always bezerk whenever we went near it with the mobile Garden, but we sent the Lunatic Pandora straight into it, nobody ever knew. except our group of six and Laguna's group." Said Squall.  
  
"I see." said Seifer.  
  
Squall stopped pacing as he heard the elevator doors open. Sirus, Laguna, Kiros and Ellone came in.  
  
Squall nodded to them, and walked over. He shook Kiros hand and as Laguna held out his hand Squall ignored it and gave him a hug. The first hug since his and Rinoa's wedding, since Squall always felt so strange around his father; not really feeling like his son.  
  
Squall stepped back and looked at Laguna's shocked face, but Squall said nothing and reached over to hug Ellone.  
  
"Are you guys alright?" he asked them. They all nodded, Laguna walked forward and gave Rinoa a hug, and Squall noticed some tears swelling in both Laguna and Rinoa's eyes.  
  
Ellone took Squall aside. "Squall.?" she asked.  
  
Squall nodded. "Yes?" He said gently.  
  
"Umm, Kiros was talking to me earlier. they think there should be a funeral for Ward soon. is it a bad time?" she said.  
  
Squall shook his head. "Of course not. we'd better do this soon. Tomorrow?" he asked. Ellone nodded and gave him another hug.  
  
"I'll go down and tell Dr. Kadowski to get him ready." said Ellone.  
  
Squall nodded and turned back to the rest of them, to tell them that Ward's funeral would be in the morning. 


	2. 3,4

AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
Once again, I'd like to thank you, Selena, for the lovely comment! Hope you like what's coming.  
  
Chapter III Unwanted Truth  
  
In Aurora's mind  
  
Aurora awoke from a deep slumber and looked through 'her' eyes. She could see large buildings in brilliant colors, tall with blue lanes weaving through them. In the distance she saw a huge palace. Her feet seemed to be moving forwards, through lots of people who were looking at her strangely.  
  
"What's going on. where am I.?" she asked. The last memory that she remembered she was dancing with Sirus. "Where's Sirus?"  
  
A voice came through her mind that startled her. She had not said those words; the words came from somewhere else in her mind. She tried to move but realized that she had no control over her body.  
  
"Be quiet you fool." said the voice inside her mind. It seemed very harsh, very dry. it was very familiar to her.  
  
"Adel?" said Aurora in shock. "What do you want. I thought you were dead."  
  
"I am dead," said the voice coldly, and harshly, "And who said that I was Adel."  
  
"Then. then who are you." Stuttered Aurora, still unsure what exactly was happening.  
  
"You ask to many questions, you know. Alot like your mother when I possessed her. She just wouldn't stop asking me why I was doing this. I thought you people would learn that by now." Said the voice airily.  
  
"Sorceress Ultimecia!" said Aurora in astonishment.  
  
"Wow, you catch on fast you know, I must give you credit for being so clever." Ultimecia said, sarcastically.  
  
"What do you want?" asked Aurora. "Why me?"  
  
"Well, first I'll say that I chose you because you're now stronger then your mother ever was. I need a strong sorceress to feed off of. It's a shame that I didn't have time to totally take over you mother, it would have made our lives much easier, I mean, you'd have never been born if I'd have totally taken her over." She said tauntingly.  
  
"What do you mean when you say 'our' lives.?" asked Aurora, beginning to panic.  
  
"I guess I won't give you credit for being clever, you people are so slow!" Ultimecia said, "You should know by know that I am Rinoa. Rinoa is I. I am your mother."  
  
"No. that can't be possible. My mother isn't evil. she's not like you. There's no way..no way." Whispered Aurora, fearfully.  
  
"Oh, it's true, and you'd better believe it." Ultimecia said loudly so it echoed through 'their' mind.  
  
"But. but how?" asked Aurora in awe.  
  
"Didn't you ever know that once a sorceress reaches her prime age that she stops aging if her powers are strong enough? Well, I of course stopped aging when I was nearly 20, after I'd had you. Many years later my dear husband, Squall, died. I couldn't take it, it just didn't make sense to me, and after years of mourning and sadness, I became something else. the brilliant, clever me as you know me now." She replied scathingly.  
  
"When I travelled through time, with the help of the Junction Ellone machine, of course, and saw many interesting things that I had forgotten about, that would ultimately rule my future if they weren't destroyed." Ultimecia said, "You, my daughter were becoming too powerful. almost as powerful as I. so I killed you." Ultimecia said with some sort of triumph in her voice.  
  
It took Aurora a moment to fully understand exactly what Ultimecia was talking about but when she thought about it, Ultimecia meant that after Squall died, Aurora became powerful. more so then she could imagine. "No. it can't be true." Said Aurora beginning to get angry.  
  
"Oh but it is." She replied. "You almost beat me too. You almost had me but of course I won. and I killed you. You see, I thought it would have been easier to possess myself when I was a teenager, right after I got my sorceress powers and make myself evil. I needed to use Adel though to get my life long dream, Time Compression, and of course to make sure that you weren't born, to make sure you wouldn't hurt my chances of attaining this dream, but I did not succeed. My 'husband' ultimately beat me. After I'd left myself for awhile I couldn't get back into my future self. It just wasn't possible."  
  
Aurora said nothing; it was all too much for her to take in.  
  
"My past self and my past husband, Squall, traveled to my time, when I'd decided Time Compression would be a good idea but they somehow beat the most powerful sorceress of all time. They did only kill my body though, only one person can get rid of me, and that's me. I thought since I had a powerful sorceress daughter I'd try to get to her. me teenage self was to hard to control. No wonder I became so incredible." She said, vehemently.  
  
"What are you saying?" asked Aurora.  
  
'What I'm saying is. that now I am you. You are I. Mother and daughter united forever. If you still don't understand, I might as well work the whole process down for you: I am using you to attain my dream, Time Compression and it will only be us, eventually, you will die and I will be left. Now, it would be much easier if you would cooperate with me. it'd be a real pain to have to work you down, as I tried with my teenage self. so why don't you just join me now?" Ultimecia glowered.  
  
"I will not join you. You are NOT my mother, my mother is a kind and loving person, not an evil, cunning bitch!" roared Aurora.  
  
"Ohhh. you have so much hate. I love It." ranted Ultimecia. "But you will become very annoying to me. Goodnight."  
  
Aurora felt her mind closing down, she felt as though she were falling asleep.  
  
"No." she whispered.  
  
"H. hey.. Who's that?" she thought as she saw a boy walking beside her, someone she hadn't noticed before.  
  
"D. Dean?" she thought as she recognized him. "What's he doing here?"  
  
Her mind closed down and right before she fell asleep she saw a palace in the distance, Laguna's presidental palace.  
  
Chapter IV The Funeral  
  
Irvine sat holding Selphie's hand in the black chairs that sat in the quad surrounding Ward's casket. Selphie had tears running down her cheeks, Irvine was trying to calm her down a little by telling her to be strong for Laguna and Kiros.  
  
Among them were; Zell and his wife, Clarissa who sat to the right; Seifer and Quistis to the right; Rajin and Fujin who sat right behind them with Nida; and Squall and Rinoa who sat in front of them near Laguna, Kiros and Ellone.  
  
The flower surrounded casket lay open and some students from the Garden lay roses on the casket.  
  
It was a small funeral, mostly close people and garden instructors but some students felt they should join such as Dawn and her boyfriend Jem.  
  
Laguna and Kiros stood up and walked to the casket and stood there, looking down at their old friend Ward. Irvine could see a few teardrops coming from both Laguna and Kiros.  
  
Laguna stepped up to the podium and wiped away his tears and began the speech that he insisted on doing.  
  
"Whoa. I don't think Ward would like this." he started with, a few people who knew Ward well, smiled weakly, remembering how he didn't like to make big deals out of that kind of stuff.  
  
"Ward was. well Ward. He was his own person, nobody could ever compare to him, I don't think. Even in the times when we fought as Galbadian Soldiers and I always managed to get Kiros, him and I lost; he still managed to put up with my conceitedness and my ways! He was always very supportive of both Kiros and I and was a generally friendly guy all around." He paused, but continued after catching the falter in his voice.  
  
"Unfortunately he lost his voice at the accident in the excavation site. We had to jump off of a cliff (my idea.) to get away from Esthar soldiers. After the accident we got split up, I was in Winhill with my late wife, Raine; Kiros was looking all over the world for me and Ward had a job in the D-District Prison. We found each other and set off for Esthar, I became president and Kiros and Ward stayed by me, Ward being my reliable general along with Kiros."  
  
Laguna looked around, tears were beginning to run down his cheeks silently and he looked down at his paper again, struggling to find the right words. "There really isn't any words to describe how much Ward meant to me, how much he meant to everyone. He always had this way of making you feel like a friend. like you were important. and he always put others first." Laguna stopped again, and when he began to speak again, he trailed off a lot.  
  
"It's impossible to say how much we'll miss him. how much." Laguna stopped and turned away. He stepped off the platform and walked straight out of the Quad, his hand placed on his forehead. Kiros hugged Squall and Rinoa and followed Laguna. Ellone remained behind.  
  
People began to get up and walk past Ward's casket, muttering words then leaving. Soon after the only ones left were Rajin, Fujin, Nida, Seifer, Quistis, Zell, Clarissa, Selphie, Irvine, Ellone, Rinoa and Squall.  
  
Rajin and Fujin nodded to Seifer and left the Quad also followed by Zell, his wife, Irvine and Selphie.  
  
"Squall. we'll take care of this. you and Rinoa can go now if you lie. Take Ellone with you." Said Seifer softly.  
  
Squall nodded and left, holding Rinoa's hand with Ellone beside them.  
  
"Do you think its going to be ok?" asked Rinoa quietly.  
  
Squall nodded. "Yeah, I think so. everything's going to be fine." He said reassuringly.  
  
They walked silently out of the Quad and went towards the library, intending to stay there for a little while, and then head to Quistis's office again. "What are we gonna do now?" Rinoa asked softly as they reached the library and sat around a table together.  
  
Squall stared at the table. 'I honestly don't know. I think we need to deal with the garden first. everyone is shaken up by what happened." he said.  
  
"But what about Aurora." Asked Ellone.  
  
"Aurora? I don't know. I don't know how we can help her." said Squall.  
  
"I suppose your right. I mean, there's nothing that we can do right now for her. you guys have to deal with the garden too." said Ellone.  
  
Squall looked over to Rinoa, she had her arms crossed and some tears were running down her cheeks. Squall put his arm around her but said nothing. The three of them sat there for nearly a half and hour, just thinking and barely saying a word until Squall finally stood up and said, "We'd better get going."  
  
They left the library, looking at students as they passed by and they headed towards Quistis's office.  
  
***************************************  
  
"Oh. You came." said Quistis as the elevator door opened and Squall, Rinoa and Ellone stepped out. "You guys could have waited awhile. Seifer and I."  
  
"Its ok, Quistis. we have to deal with this problem now. before it gets worse." said Squall right away.  
  
Ellone stepped back, "I think that I'd better leave, let you guys too it. I'll go and see Laguna and Kiros."  
  
Squall and Rinoa nodded; Ellone left.  
  
"Well, lets get started then." Said Quistis. "So far we've told the Garden students at the ball to keep this affair quiet, they say that it won't get around but its only a matter of time before someone talks and then the whole Garden knows."  
  
"Your right." said Rinoa heavily as she plopped into a nearby armchair. "Well, we'd better get on with this. What's our status?"  
  
"Well. yesterday we agreed that Adel would be headed for Esthar because it was her country." said Quistis slowly.  
  
"What do you mean, you guys know it's Adel? How.?" asked Rinoa quickly, sitting straight up in her seat.  
  
"Rinoa. when Ward died Dr. Kadowski and I were talking, she knows that something or someone is in there. and if you remember, right after Aurora was possessed the person inside said, 'I told you "d be back.'" Squall interjected.  
  
"Yeah. before Adel died she promised she'd be back. I guess you're right, I mean. if it was Ultimecia back then she'd want Seifer, right?" Rinoa said, staring off into nothingness.  
  
"Ultimecia? It's been 15 years, how could she even possibly be back?" asked Seifer in a quivering voice.  
  
"She did come from way off in the future. remember? Who's to say that since she's from the future that she didn't realize that she could take over the world earlier in her age. its as if she never died. If you think about it a sorceress never dies." Rinoa stated.  
  
Seifer shivered. "It's not possible." he said tonelessly.  
  
"I never told you guys this. but when Ultimecia died. when Squall killed her. I heard this voice in my mind. it was like I was paralyzed. The voice told me that it'd be back. it was Ultimecia. She told me that I knew how and why. but I don't." she said directly to Seifer, who began to pace.  
  
"But. but like you said, Rinoa, she'd want me back, right?" Seifer said with a wave of his hand as if to push to bad feeling he had away.  
  
"Not necessarily. maybe she wanted someone with a the right type of mind to take over, and easier mind.. maybe she's still weak, maybe she wanted someone easier to take over. Seifer, your much stronger now then you were 15 years ago." she replied in a confident voice.  
  
Quistis, who was standing by the large window and staring into the horizon and at the now afternoon sun turned and spoke. "It's possible but I don't think so."  
  
"Why not?" asked Squall who stepped forward.  
  
"Because if it was Ultimecia then why would she say that it was Adel. Ultimecia is pure evil, she would want to take credit for her work." She said airily.  
  
"Hmmm." Squall started.  
  
"Don't you even remember? When Adel took over Aurora she said herself that it was her then she took off." Quistis interrupted.  
  
"I guess." Said Rinoa in a surrendering tone. "But we can't leave all possibilities out."  
  
"Yeah. but what I think we really should do right now is move the Garden to the Esthar continent but stay away from the city. We don't want to endanger the student's lives." Said Squall finally.  
  
"Yes. I'll notify Nida to head there straight away. We'll station the Garden near the lunar base and take a car to Esthar." Said Quistis. She grabbed the small microphone and called Nida to the pilot's deck to direct the Garden to Esthar from near Winhill where they currently were.  
  
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Seifer had resumed pacing the floor. Rinoa was biting her nails nervously as she sat on the edge of the armchair. Quistis was leaning against the window and Squall was standing near the elevator.  
  
Seifer suddenly stopped pacing when an idea struck his mind, a crazy and possible dangerous idea.  
  
"Squall?" he asked with a smirk crossing his face.  
  
"Yes?" said Squall and Rinoa raised her head.  
  
"I have an idea. we all need to know where Aurora is, exactly and how she is. if she's safe." he said.  
  
"Yes." said Squall hoping that Seifer wasn't thinking what Squall thought he was thinking.  
  
"Ellone is here and." Seifer started but Squall interrupted him immediately when he saw where he was leading.  
  
"No." he said simply.  
  
"Oh, come on. she'll be fine. You said that she once connected with you, through her mind, and she's been in Ultimecia's mind before. she helped Quistis save Laguna's and my life. Please, she can help us." Seifer argued.  
  
Squall groaned knowing that he was right. Ellone could help them, that was if she was up to it. "I guess. only if she wants to though." Said Squall in agreement. Rinoa looked as though she had just woke up on Christmas morning. They'd finally know how Aurora was.  
  
"I'm here." Said Nida as he stepped out of the elevator.  
  
"Nida, direct the Garden to Esthar please." Said Quistis.  
  
Nida nodded and went up the elevator lift to the pilot's deck, they all felt a small jolt as the Garden turned.  
  
"Rinoa and I are going down to the dormitory to get ready." said Squall.  
  
"Sure." Said Quistis. "We'll notify the students that they must all remain in the Garden, at all times."  
  
"You know. we may be met with some hostility once we get into Esthar you know. what if Adel was already taken it over. we may be met with some 'greeting' soldiers." Said Seifer.  
  
Squall nodded. "Quistis. Get our comrades, looks like we better ready ourselves."  
  
************************************************** 


	3. 5,6

AUTHORS NOTE: Well, I'm happy that you're enjoying the story so far, Selena. The great thing is, the best is yet to come. I forget exactly what chapter it comes in, but.. Well, you'll see! Enjoy the next post!  
  
Chapter V Curiousity  
  
The late afternoon sunlight came through the sheer white curtains and onto the king sized dormitory bed. Squall sat, lacing up his boots and getting out his Lionheart as Rinoa emerged from the bathroom holding her Cardinal that she had just cleaned.  
  
"You don't have to go, you know?" said Squall as he saw the worried glimmer in Rinoa's dark eyes.  
  
She shook her head and sat down beside him and clutched his hand. "I have to. I want to. I'm worried about Aurora, and I want to everything in my power to help her." She whispered into his ear.  
  
Squall smiled a little and kissed her on the cheek reassuringly.  
  
She smiled at him lightly but still had her doubts and began to sob. "Oh Squall! What if we can't help her? What if we can't get to her.?" she asked through tears.  
  
Squall frowned but knew exactly how she felt. "Rin. Rinoa. don't cry. Aurora wouldn't want that. be strong, she's going to be all right." He said in a less then assuring tone, but Rinoa wiped her tears away and sat up.  
  
"Your right." She said in a defiant voice, unlike her normal one.  
  
"Squall?" said a voice from behind them.  
  
They both turned to see Laguna standing there, holding the door open a crack, he'd just come in. "Yeah?" said Squall.  
  
"Umm, do you have an aircraft that Kiros and I could use to get to Galbadia?" he asked.  
  
"Er. Yeah. you can use one of the Ragnaroks. What do you want to do there, don't you want to go to Esthar?" Squall asked.  
  
"No. we think it'd be better if we didn't go straight back. Besides, we need to warn the president of Galbadia about what's going on." Laguna replied.  
  
"I see." said Squall. "Well, good luck. dad."  
  
For the first time since the funeral Laguna smiled because Squall called him dad. "Thanks," he paused for a moment, ".Son." And with a last glance he closed the door with a small snap.  
  
Squall looked back over to Rinoa who was suddenly smiling. "What?" asked Squall.  
  
"Oh, nothing." said Rinoa.  
  
"Oh boy, we'd better get up there. could I meet you there though? I have to go to the library quickly to read up on something." She said seriously, changing the subject.  
  
Squall nodded. "Sure."  
  
Rinoa left the dormitory room, and Squall sat on the bed for a moment before falling back on to the bed, thinking.  
  
"I wonder if she was right before. I mean, what if it is Ultimecia. does that mean we're gonna have to fight her like we had to fight Edea when she was possessed by Ultimecia? Will she go into a coma like when Rinoa was possessed?" he thought to himself.  
  
"No. it's got to be Adel. there's no way it's Ultimecia." He decided and sat quite rapidly, almost making himself dizzy.  
  
He grabbed his gun blade and looked at it. The times that he'd used it, how it had helped him. it all came pouring into his mind again; but despite his longings to stand there and think, he knew he couldn't. At that he walked straight out of the room, trying not to think to hard about what he was going to do.  
  
As he walked slowly towards the elevator he caught a glimpse of Rinoa heading into the library, but she stopped right outside where Seifer was standing.  
  
Squall stopped for a moment to look. They seemed to be talking about something very seriously and Squall caught some loud words that echoed out of Rinoa's mouth. "No, NOT NOW!"  
  
Squall shrugged and decided it wasn't very important and kept on walking towards the elevator where he saw Dawn, Aurora's friend, standing near the directory with a boy. Dawn ran straight to him.  
  
"Mr. Leonhart! Mr. Leonhart!" she said as she neared him. It was unbelievable how much she reminded him of a young Selphie, actually, when he thought about it, Selphie was still like that.  
  
"Just call me Squall, and what is it?" he said in a sort of exasperated tone, he didn't want to deal with her at that moment.  
  
"Ok, sorry. Mr. Leonhart.er. I mean.Squall." She said awkwardly. "Have you found Dean and Aurora yet?" she asked.  
  
"No." Squall shook his head.  
  
Dawn suddenly looked really sad. "Well, if there's anything that I can do. just let me know. both Jem and I can help out." she said glumly as she gestured towards the boy standing at the directory.  
  
"Thank you, Dawn. I will." He said and walked to the elevator. Just as he pressed the button Rinoa showed up panting.  
  
"Whoa! Can't barely run anymore. we're getting old." She said well heartedly.  
  
"Speak for yourself!" Squall said in a sarcastic tone.  
  
Rinoa gave him a funny look but laughed anyway. "Even you can make people laugh in the worst of situation, which is odd! You're the most serious person I've ever met. and not to mention, loved."  
  
Squall smiled and kissed her cheek. "So, I saw you talking to Seifer, what was that about?" he asked, curiously.  
  
"Oh. oh that!" she sounded surprised that he saw them. "That was nothing, he was asking me to help him find a gun blade magazine in there. I didn't have time."  
  
"I see," he said, suddenly understanding why she had said, 'NO, not now!'  
  
The elevator door opened and Squall and Rinoa went up to Quistis's office. As they stepped off Quistis turned around immediately. "You guys ready?" she asked.  
  
"Yes." Said Rinoa definitely, looking at Squall quickly. Squall and Rinoa walked slowly to the lift and went up to the pilot's deck.  
  
In the distance they could see the faint outline of the vast and large Esthar, glittering underneath the sunlight. "Over there." Said Squall to Nida.  
  
"But Squall. That's right near the actual city." Said Nida as he saw where Squall pointed; it was about 1 mile out from the actual city.  
  
Squall nodded and Nida just turned and shook his head, but he kept going until he was at the spot where Squall had pointed.  
  
"Nida, I'm putting it here because if we need backup then we need it right away. Adel may already have the city under her control," Squall explained, "And they would have seen us at the Lunar Base anyway." He added.  
  
Nida nodded, but he still wasn't sure, he had a bad feeling that was stuck in the back of his head, like a constant reminder of danger.  
  
"Ok, let's head out." Said Squall to Rinoa and they stepped onto the lift.  
  
"Squall! Wait!" said Nida, who had grabbed the binoculars and was looking through them. "Look!" he said as Squall and Rinoa stepped off the lift, again.  
  
"What?" asked Rinoa, hardly bearing to wait as Squall grabbed the binoculars from Nida and stared through them.  
  
"Get Quistis!" he said suddenly to Rinoa. Rinoa hesitated, but decided not to argue, so she went immediately down and came back with Quistis and Seifer.  
  
"LOOK!!!" Squall said, frantically.  
  
Quistis took the binoculars and looked through them. About 2000 soldiers, at least, were travelling at great speed down the Esthar ramps and out onto the desert towards the Garden.  
  
"We have to leave, now!" Said Quistis, who had given the binoculars to Rinoa to look through.  
  
After Rinoa had finished with the binoculars, she handed them to Seifer, who'd just arrived; both of them agreed with Quistis, they needed to leave.  
  
Nida switched on the power generator to get the Garden moving, but a faint howling sounded and then died down, and nothing more happened. He frowned and tried it again, this time the howling was fainter and stopped abruptly.  
  
"What's going on?!?" Nida said in frustration.  
  
He tried a few more times, groaning in frustration each time it died; it was hopeless and the soldiers were moving ever closer.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Quistis, looking at Nida expectantly.  
  
"Uh." he said.  
  
"What!" Quistis asked.  
  
"Umm. I think that the Garden's broken." said Nida.  
  
"BROKEN?!?" exploded Seifer, "What the hell are you talking about, broken?" he closed his eyes in grimace.  
  
"Broken." Said Nida. "This continent is too rough for the Garden," he looked at Squall quickly, ".I thought the Garden could take it because we upgraded the system, but I guess that when we landed."  
  
"Oh my." said Quistis.  
  
"Umm.." Said Rinoa who had the binoculars again and was looking through them.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Seifer.  
  
"Guys?" said Rinoa.  
  
"We fight." Said Squall, simply, yet looking scared in his own way.  
  
"Guys!" repeated Rinoa. "Look!"  
  
"What do you mean, fight! We can't fight them! There's too many. It's suicide." Said Quistis, completely ignoring Rinoa's comments.  
  
"What else are we supposed to do?" demanded Squall.  
  
"Guys!!!!!!!!!!!!" said Rinoa.  
  
"We run away. or get this Garden working somehow.." She replied.  
  
"HOW!" said Squall?  
  
"I don't know. but we have to figure something out!" said Quistis.  
  
"FOR GOD SAKES, QUIT YOUR BICKERING AND LOOK!" screamed Rinoa. Finally everyone paid attention.  
  
Squall took the binoculars and his jaw dropped. A whole air fleet had taken flight. About twenty aircraft's were flying out of the Esthar Air Station, and from what they could see, more were getting ready.  
  
"Quistis," said Squall and handed the binoculars to Quistis, "Notify the students and SeeD, we're going to have to fight. It's going to be a war." Quistis lowered her binoculars, and looked at Squall, wide eyed, but she nodded, despite the fact that they were gruesomely outnumbered by skilled fighters.  
  
Chapter VI Preparations  
  
"ATTENTION all student's and SeeD personnel." Said Quistis through the microphone in her office, as she stood next to the window, staring at the oncoming Estharian soldiers. Squall stood behind her and Rinoa was still on the Pilot's Deck with Seifer and Nida.  
  
"Quistis. give me the microphone." said Squall. She stared at him and handed it over.  
  
"Attention all garden students. and SeeD. this is the SeeD commander Squall Leonhart." he paused. "We are in a crisis right now. and we need your help."  
  
He waited a moment before continuing. "Our current stance is outside of the Esthar City and our Garden is having technical difficulties. Esthar soldiers are moving towards us."  
  
"There are nearly 2000, if not more. plus air craft. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that we have absolutely no choice but fighting because if we don't, they will take over the Garden. and.." He paused, no able to say what would happen, "However, we do have a plan." He said and Quistis looked up with a surprise look on her face.  
  
"Firstly could I ask for all the junior SeeD members to head to the second floor classroom with the junior students. keep them safe. All Garden student's and SeeD with an ID number ending with an even number head to the directory and all Garden student's and SeeD with an ID ending with an odd number head to the Quad." He said, though, memories of the last battle their Garden had been through with the Galbadian Garden came flooding back, and he remembered giving the same orders.  
  
"Next, I would like to ask any SeeD members with flying experience to come to the second floor corridor. and be careful. remember, everything is going to be. its going to be fine." he finished, and handed the mic back over to Quistis.  
  
"Quistis." he said. "Call out comrades now. We need them for my final plan."  
  
Quistis nodded. "Selphie, Irvine, Zell. please come." she began but before she finished the elevator door opened and they stepped out along with Clarissa and Ellone.  
  
"Oh, there you are." She said and shut off the Mic. "I was just."  
  
"What's going on?" said Selphie, cutting off Quistis.  
  
"Look." Said Squall, gesturing to the office window. Selphie and Irvine ran to look.  
  
"Oh my." said Selphie.  
  
"So what's the plan?" asked Zell, not bothering to take a good look.  
  
"Well." Squall started, but a loud boom interrupted him, causing the Garden to shake violently. Squall ran over to the window and saw an aircraft hovering above them.  
  
"Well. first off we need student's with aircraft experience. we have two Ragnarok's that we can use, one's in Galbadia with Laguna, but we have about 5 other smaller jet's." he said.  
  
Selphie stepped forward. "I can fly." She said. "Irvine and I will handle one of the Ragnarok's." she said and her attention turned to the lift where Nida, Rinoa and Seifer stepped off.  
  
"Me too." said Nida. "I can take a Ragnarok."  
  
Squall nodded. "Alright, we need five other pilot's." he looked around, none of them could be used. "Seifer?" he asked suddenly, "Could you go downstairs and find five suitable pilots, nobody seems to be coming."  
  
"Alright." Seifer left without another word.  
  
"Ok, Selphie, Irvine and Nida. you guys can head up to the aircraft platform and go ahead. we need to get rid of those jets!" said Squall as he felt another jolt from being hit by the jet.  
  
Selphie, Irvine and Nida all left too. "Zell." said Squall.  
  
"Yeah!" he said, as if that was the best thing that ever happened to him.  
  
"I need you to head down to the quad and ready the student's for battle. Rinoa and I will handle the directory student's until we head into Esthar with Quistis and Seifer. we're leaving the battle in your hands." Squall said.  
  
"I could handle the directory student's, Squall." said Clarissa who was usually quiet.  
  
"Thank you." Squall said to her, realizing that it would be of much help for her to do that for them. Zell and Clarissa left.  
  
"What about me?" asked Ellone.  
  
"Ellone. we need you for something much more important." said Squall. "Only if your up for it though." he added.  
  
Ellone nodded and Squall continued. "We need you to get into Aurora's head."  
  
Ellone said nothing. "I know it's dangerous but we need you!" Rinoa said, hastily, staring at Ellone, hoping that she would agree to do this.  
  
Ellone nodded slowly and numbly.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Squall who was beginning to have doubt's, himself.  
  
"I'm sure." She said and Squall nodded as Seifer came up in the elevator with four students.  
  
"This was all there was." he said.  
  
Squall looked at them all; they were all SeeD's. "You guys can head up to the aircraft platform." He said to them. "Good Luck to you."  
  
They all left and Seifer walked forwards. "So what exactly is the plan?" he asked Squall.  
  
"We go into Esthar." Squall replied simply.  
  
"What! That's suicide!" said Quistis from somewhere behind Squall.  
  
"Hear him out!" said Rinoa angrily.  
  
"With the battle going on, I don't think they'll see us head in. we just have to sneak around. We'll go to the parking lot and take a car to the other side of the city and go in that way. then we head right to the presidential palace." Squall said, though feeling as if it wasn't right to leave the Garden. but they had to. and he knew it deep down.  
  
"What do we do when we get there?" demanded Quistis.  
  
"We find Aurora and help her. that's why we need Ellone. we'll hide somewhere while she communicates with Aurora. if they stay together long enough hopefully it will drive Adel out and we can defeat her once and for all." Said Rinoa, continuing what Squall would have said.  
  
"It's not impossible." said Ellone.  
  
"I guess." said Seifer.  
  
Quistis said nothing but just shook her head. "Let's just hope that this works then.", a smirk crossed her face.  
  
"Let's go." Said Squall and started forward.  
  
"Wait Squall! What about the Garden. shouldn't we have someone repairing it?" said Quistis, looking worried, and Squall turned around. "I mean, we may have to withdrawal. what would happen if we can't because the garden is broken?"  
  
Squall thought for a moment. "Your right but who can do that?" he asked.  
  
"I can!" said a voice from the back of the room. Squall turned to see Sirus, Dawn and Jem standing outside the elevator.  
  
"Who can?" asked Squall.  
  
"I can," said Jem, "I have experience with fixing machinery, this can't be much different."  
  
"I can fly!" said Dawn.  
  
Squall smiled a bit. "Good thing you guys showed up! Jem, head down to the bottom level and get started! Dawn. you can take the last jet and go. if you want." He said.  
  
Dawn smiled and saluted him. "I know I'm not a SeeD yet, but I can do this!" she said with much confidence and left with Jem. It amazed Squall how much she was like Selphie!  
  
Sirus stepped forward. "I can help you guys." he said, though, he was biting his lip nervously.  
  
"Sirus." Squall started.  
  
"Don't make me stay here! I can help you guys. I think I know what you want to do. You want to find Aurora, just as much as I do!" Sirus said defiantly, "I would be her knight." he said quietly.  
  
Squall stared at him. He sort of saw himself in there, the feelings that he once felt. Squall saw how he feels the same way about Aurora as Squall felt about Rinoa when she was in trouble. Squall frowned, and was silent for a moment but finally said, "Ok."  
  
"But Squall! He's only 16!" said Quistis.  
  
Squall held his hand up as if to silence her and turned around to face her. "Quistis, if you remember correctly we were only 17 when we defeated the most powerful sorceress of all time. literally!" said Squall. "I've seen Sirus's abilities, he can do this, he could be a big help to us!"  
  
"I was 18." Quistis grumbled under her breath but nobody heard her.  
  
"Ok! Let's go!" said Squall and they all left. 


	4. 7,8

AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
Lol! I'm glad you liked that last line. its pretty funny. Well, loads more good stuff is coming. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Hope ya like the next bit!  
  
Chapter VII The Other Sorceress  
  
In Aurora's mind  
  
"W. W. What's going on?" Aurora thought drowsily and opened her eyes. or at least she thought that she did, they were already open and she remembered the terrible truth about her being possessed by Ultimecia.  
  
In her mind she gasped as she saw through Ultimecia's eyes in the reflection of the window that her own body was slowly changing into Ultimecia's body. Long black wings were growing and her clothes were changed into Ultimecia's. Only her face remained the same.  
  
"Oh my god." she thought.  
  
"SO, my dear. your awake, are you?" taunted Ultimecia. "Oh, what a day, what a day! You're disappearing. Garden is under attack and I will be ruler!"  
  
"Garden's under attack!" thought Aurora in panic and looked out the window to see an air fleet headed out of Esthar followed by nearly a thousand soldiers. They were headed to where, Aurora saw, the Garden was.  
  
"NO!" she thought frantically. "This can't be happening. why aren't they leaving. they'll all be killed. Mom, Dad. Sirus."  
  
"Correction my dear. I am your mother, your mother cannot die." said Ultimecia, calmly.  
  
"YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER!" Aurora screamed.  
  
"Suit yourself. Though, really, I am. You'd might as well face it." Ultimecia said quietly, "You know, I could let you live, I could let you out and we could be the ruler's of the world. We could be great, you know, but it's up to you. You have the strength and ability to be as good as I, you just don't know it yet!"  
  
"I'm better then you." Aurora retorted.  
  
"YOU STUPID GIRL! You are not more powerful then me, I am the most powerful sorceress in the world.in the universe. and it will all be mine." She shrieked.  
  
"My sorceress." came a voice from outside of Aurora's head, it was Dean.  
  
"DEAN!" Aurora screamed. "HELP ME!"  
  
"Shut up. he's not here to help you. He's my knight." said Ultimecia.  
  
"I thought that Seifer Almasy was your knight?" said Aurora in confusion.  
  
"That stupid fool? I don't think so. This one is of much more help and use to me. So why don't you just be quiet and stay out of thing's that you don't understand." Ultimecia said harshly.  
  
"The Garden is now under attack." Dean said tonelessly. "The air fleet is bombing now."  
  
"No." Aurora whispered.  
  
"And what of the knight? Where is he?" Ultimecia said, ignoring Aurora's whisper.  
  
"Knight? Seifer?" Aurora whispered.  
  
"We expect that he will be coming with the commander and the sorceress." Said Dean.  
  
"Rinoa is no longer a sorceress. She is of no threat to me. I can defeat her, I know how now." said Ultimecia. "Only one person is a threat, however, and I need her. Where is Ellone?"  
  
"Aunt Elle?" Aurora thought. "But why."  
  
"She is coming with them to, I'm sure. I expect that they will try to help Aurora." Said Dean.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Ultimecia.  
  
"We have a spy in the Garden. he is not a trader like others." Said Dean.  
  
"Good." Ultimecia smirked, and turned back to the window but did not see the smirk cross Dean's face and the red swirl's that flowed out of him, which left him standing in an idle position.  
  
"My knight. You may go." Ultimecia said with a wave of her hand.  
  
Dean stood there; he did nothing.  
  
"GO!" Ultimecia hissed but Dean still did nothing.  
  
Ultimecia turned in anger, but the floor began to shake and Ultimecia fell over. "What's going on!" she demanded.  
  
Just as she said that, a harsh laughing erupted in her and Aurora's head making Ultimecia wince. "Who's there?" she called.  
  
"Hahaha! So. You're the most powerful sorceress in the world? I don't think so!" said a harsh and raspy voice.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU!" Ultimecia demanded.  
  
"The most powerful sorceress in the world." The raspy voice croaked.  
  
"ADEL!" Ultimecia hissed. "STAY AWAY! You're not more powerful."  
  
Just as she said that Aurora felt a strange sensation in her mind as if she was being pushed back and another was put into her mind.  
  
"NO!" Ultimecia screamed.  
  
Ultimecia's body shivered and stood up, Ultimecia was no longer in control, Adel was there, and she was more powerful.  
  
"Wow. three sorceresses in one. all these powers. it's just so much!" Adel taunted.  
  
"How?" Aurora thought in fright.  
  
**************************************************  
  
******  
  
Chapter VIII The Battle Begins  
  
"IRVINE! HURRY!" Selphie demanded as she ran to one of the empty Ragnarok's, and out of the hot late afternoon sun.  
  
"Ok. Ok! Calm down, will ya!" he shouted back and waved Nida on, who took off in the other Ragnarok.  
  
"Shouldn't we wait until they all leave?" he asked as he pointed to the other jet's on the aircraft platform.  
  
An enemy jet flew overhead and shot at them but missed. "NO!" Selphie yelled.  
  
Irvine gulped and got into the Ragnarok. As he reached the pilot's deck he felt a jolt as Selphie pulled up and burst forward. "WHOA!" Irvine said and caught a seat before falling. "What's with you?" he asked her.  
  
"We've gotta kill'em. there's so many!" Selphie said as they came to where about twenty enemy jets were hovering, waiting for the soldiers to attack the Garden.  
  
"Let's hope that the student's are gonna be ok." said Irvine as he saw nearly 500 student's flow from the front entrance and the Quad, they seemed to be getting ready for battle position.  
  
"It's going to be fine. Remember when we battled with Galbadia Garden? We survived that, didn't we?" said Selphie reassuringly.  
  
"Yeah but there weren't two thousand soldiers then!" said Irvine.  
  
"WHOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" Selphie yelled as they headed straight into the many jet's and began shooting.  
  
**************************************  
  
Zell stared forward and gulped. The soldiers had stopped advancing and were about to attack the oncoming SeeD and Garden members.  
  
"Listen up everyone. This is it!" he called. "This isn't a regular battle. there's many more of them then there is of us. And they have guns so be on guard! Everybody must cast Protect!" he called out.  
  
"Zell!" Clarissa called as she ran up beside him. "What if they all cast it together. we'll create a shield for us all and the airplanes won't be able to hit us." She said.  
  
"You're a genius!" he said and kissed her quickly. "OK! On the count of three, everyone cast shield. EVERYONE!" he yelled as loud as he could.  
  
"Line up in 5 rows everyone." Clarissa added.  
  
After everyone lined up and there were five rows of about 100 people Zell counted down.  
  
"THREE!"  
  
"TWO!"  
  
"ONE!"  
  
Everyone cast protect and there was a strange buzzing sound. For a moment all they saw was a blue dome go all around them, but within a few seconds, it was clear.  
  
"Cast SHELL!" Zell called.  
  
"THREE!"  
  
"TWO!"  
  
"ONE!"  
  
A huge pink dome covered the clear one and now from what they saw the sky was tinted a yellowish color.  
  
"HOLD OFF!" Zell yelled. "We'll wait for them to come to us, that way we stay in our protected area. no missiles will hit us!"  
  
The crowd of student's waited many of them clutching their weapons nervously. Zell looked back to see many scared faces and sighed.  
  
"Listen everyone. we can do this. we're going to be ok!" he said reassuringly. A few people's faces lifted, though not as many as Zell would have hoped.  
  
"Here they come!" Clarissa yelled to get Zell's attention. The first wave of about 200 soldiers started forwards, they began to shot but the bullets only came through as small pellets that bounced softly off of people.  
  
"Haha! It's working!" Zell laughed and looked up to see the two Ragnarok's and five of the Garden's other jet's rushing into the air battle.  
  
"Good Luck, guys." he whispered.  
  
**************************************  
  
"Oh my god!" Irvine said in frustration as they missed some of the jets. So far they'd only gotten two.  
  
"Oh no!" Selphie said. "Look!"  
  
One of the smaller jets from the Garden was hit and plummeted to the ground and exploded.  
  
"That's it! They're gonna pay!" Selphie screamed and blasted the jet engines straight at two of the enemy jet's that were coming towards them.  
  
"Selphie! Are you crazy!" Irvine said in awe as she turned at the last instant and blasted them from behind.  
  
"Hahaha! This thing is still up to speed with its turning mechanism you know!" she said crazily.  
  
Irvine shook his head and his eyes widened. "SELPHIE! LOOK OUT!" They were headed straight at another aircraft that was so close he could almost see the person inside.  
  
"Grrr.." Selphie said as the plane turned upwards and came behind them. Selphie swerved in and out of gaps between other jets and tried to lose the enemy jet but it wouldn't let up.  
  
"Aha!" she said triumphantly as she saw another enemy headed straight at them. Right before they hit she turned the steering straight down and bombed towards the ground, pulling up right before they hit. The two jets smashed into each other.  
  
Irvine who had his eyes closed opened them and shook his head. "I can't believe I married this lunatic." He said out loud.  
  
"Hey!" said Selphie defensively. "Just because I'm a lunatic doesn't mean you couldn't have married me!"  
  
Irvine chuckled a bit and sat in the machine gun seat and took the controls. "Selphie. I'll use the machine guns too."  
  
Selphie nodded and turned the Ragnarok to face the enemy jets and hovered there. She sat back in her seat.  
  
"Come on. come and get some!" she said with a crazed look in her eyes.  
  
"Shouldn't have let Selphie fly this thing." muttered Irvine.  
  
**************************************  
  
"Let's do this!" said Zell and charged forwards at the oncoming soldiers that had entered their protective shield. The garden student's and SeeD followed closely and they fought.  
  
"Frickin' hell!" said Zell as one of the soldier's cast Firaga on him. "Oh, your gonna get it now!"  
  
He concentrated with all his might and his body disappeared, Cactuar replaced it. Cactuar grinned as he saw three cowering soldier's standing in his shadow and he leaned forwards to crush them, but then, instead of going all the way to the ground, he cast out thousands of cactus thorns leaving them lying on the ground dead.  
  
Zell re-appeared, smiling. "Tch! That's what I thought!" he said as he moved on to defeat more soldiers.  
  
Ahead of him, he saw Clarissa helping a young girl defeat two soldiers after they'd beaten her to the ground and he smirked, thinking of how Clarissa was always there to help whenever someone needed it.  
  
"OW!" he yelled, as he felt something hard hit the back of his head and he fell over. One of the soldiers had taken the back of his gun and hit him over the head.  
  
Clarissa saw this, and she immediately ran over to Zell, but the soldier got her first. he cast the most powerful spell that was known. Ultima. Clarissa fell to the ground in pain and when she finally attempted to get up, the soldier kicked her down.  
  
Zell climbed up with as much strength as he could muster and crawled to where they were. He took the soldier out by the knees and hit him with his own gun.  
  
Zell helped Clarissa up and used a potion on her to make her feel better. "Thanks." she said.  
  
"No problem, I mean, your always there for me, so I thought that I should pay you back!" he smiled jokingly, but his expression changed quickly. He stared behind her in horror as the soldier regained consciousness and was coming at her with a knife.  
  
**************************************************  
  
********** 


	5. 9,10

AUTHORS NOTE: LOL, yeah, it was pretty funny with Irvine and Selphies scenes.. I'll bet you can't wait for more, unfortunately, this one holds a huge cliffhanger as well! Enjoy!  
  
Chapter IX The Crash  
  
"Oh my god." said Rinoa as she stared out the window of the fastly moving car to see the battle that took place nearly a hundred yards away.  
  
Seifer drove at a dangerous speed with Quistis next to him. Sirus, Ellone, Squall and Rinoa all sat on the benches behind.  
  
"Won't they notice us?" Ellone asked.  
  
"Yeah but they probably won't think anything of it." said Squall.  
  
"Seifer watch out!" said Quistis as one of the enemy airplanes dove and fired at them. Seifer turned just in time to avoid it.  
  
"Spoke too soon, huh!" said Seifer to Squall as the aircraft followed them.  
  
"It's ok though, look!" said Rinoa and pointed at one of they're own jet's that shot the one down and did a friendly dive in front of them to let them know that they'd be fine.  
  
"We're almost there!" said Quistis.  
  
"It's getting dark." said Sirus as he looked out the back window and into the horizon where the sun was glowing.  
  
"Good. that'll make it easier to get in, unnoticed!" said Seifer.  
  
"Seifer. turn right." Said Squall suddenly.  
  
"What? What are you talking about. isn't this where we get in?" Seifer said as he looked down the path to the city.  
  
"Yeah but we'll be seen there. head to the Salt Flats." Said Squall. "We'll use the secret entrance. nobody will notice us then."  
  
"We won't make it in time though. we need to be back before the battle's over!" argued Seifer.  
  
"Stop arguing and turn!" Quistis demanded and Seifer jolted the car in that direction. His mood quickly turned sour.  
  
"It's going to take us too long." He grumbled.  
  
"Oh no! Not another one!" said Irvine sadly as one of their jets went down. Only them, the other Ragnarok, and two jets were left. Two were taken down right before.  
  
"Look, there's more coming!" said Selphie, pointing off into the distance.  
  
"We've got to withdrawal." said Irvine but Selphie quickly disagreed.  
  
"No way. look. we can't let them down! Zell and Clarissa are down there. we need to protect them!" said Selphie pointing down at the ongoing battle.  
  
"What good are we going to do when we're dead, Selphie!" said Irvine angrily but Selphie said nothing, she continued her flying and shooting.  
  
"Look, there goes two into the Grandidi Forest!" said Selphie. "They're leaving!"  
  
Irvine stared out the window, confused. "Why would they be leaving?" he thought.  
  
"Let's go and get'em, we can't let them get away!" said Selphie and turned the Ragnarok so that they were flying towards the large and what seemed to be endless forest.  
  
"Look! It's huge!" said Selphie.  
  
"I have a bad feeling about this!" said Irvine.  
  
"What do you mean, look, they've stopped and they're turning back! We've got'em good now!" said Selphie definitely.  
  
"This isn't right, they should know this continent better then anyone. They know that this just goes to the ocean, why would they come this far?" said Irvine, squinting out the window into the distance.  
  
"Oh my god." he said as he saw about 10 jet's fly upwards, and then towards them. "Selphie! It's a trap! They came out here to corner us!"  
  
Selphie looked into the large mirror that showed behind them and saw about three jets flying not to far behind them and then she looked forward again at the twelve jets in front.  
  
"Oh no." she whispered.  
  
"Turn up! Turn up!" said Irvine, panicking.  
  
Selphie shifted the steering upwards but it was too late. The jets in front of them fired missiles and they were hit.  
  
"We're hit. " she said in an eerily calm voice.  
  
"Selphie!" cried Irvine and ran over to her.  
  
She tried to regain control, but it was impossible. Everything became very quiet suddenly, and they looked into each other's eyes, tears beginning to run down their cheeks.  
  
The Ragnarok was gaining speed as it plummeted downwards and Irvine hugged Selphie. "I love you." he said and they kissed, it was the end.  
  
The Ragnarok hit the trees with much force and they hit the ground with a loud smash. The enemy jets took off, leaving the wreckage there to burn.  
  
**************************************************  
  
**********************  
  
"Where's the second Ragnarok?" asked Rinoa as she looked out the window to only see one of the Ragnaroks with two other jets left.  
  
"Oh no." she whispered.  
  
"It's ok, Rinoa. They're probably just somewhere behind the city!" said Squall, who wasn't so sure himself. "Where were they?" he thought.  
  
"Ok, here we are." Said Quistis as the car stopped.  
  
They all stepped out of the car and into the salt flats. "I've never seen this place before." said Rinoa.  
  
"That's because you were unconscious when I came through here." Squall whispered.  
  
"Oh!" she said and they continued walking until they reached the side where there was a strange flickering and a solid wall that looked as though the salt flat's were endless.  
  
"How do you know about this?" Sirus asked.  
  
"I came here with Rinoa to find a Doctor to help her when she was possessed." said Squall.  
  
"Here it is!" said Quistis who was walking along the wall, running her hand against it and a ladder appeared, leading to a hole in midair.  
  
"Let's go." She said, leading the way.  
  
They reached the tunnel and followed it until they reached a lift. They all stepped on and traveled along it until they saw Esthar again.  
  
"So, we head straight to the palace then hide in there, then we use Ellone to get to Aurora's mind and hopefully help her out, right?" Said Seifer.  
  
"Yes, that would be the simple version." Said Squall.  
  
"Umm, Excuse me but what if we can't help Aurora out?" asked Sirus.  
  
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet." Said Squall and they all began walking towards the palace as the sun dropped and the moon came out, highlighting the blue and red roads that stretched through the city.  
  
"I can hear the battle from here." said Rinoa sadly as they all heard loud blast's and booms that seemed to be getting fainter, as though the battle was moving farther away. Rinoa figured that was probably what was happening, the Estharians were wearing them down.  
  
"We're almost at the palace." Said Squall, changing the subject. He didn't really want to think about how many people could be dying out there.  
  
"Get back!" he suddenly hissed at them all. A few soldiers were patrolling the streets. They all ducked into a nearby bench area where they wouldn't be seen, until the soldiers passed, and then they continued walking.  
  
"Won't the palace be heavily guarded? I mean, that's where Aurora likely is, right?" asked Sirus.  
  
"Yeah." said Squall.  
  
"Well, how are we going to get in then?" asked Sirus.  
  
"We're going to create a diversion. that's how." Squall answered.  
  
Chapter X Phoenix Power  
  
"NOOO!" Zell yelled and turned quick enough to move Clarissa out of the way but was stabbed by the soldier with the knife.  
  
Zell groaned in pain as the knife dug deeper into his back.  
  
"Zell!" Clarissa cried as he fell to the ground and lay there in pain. She glared at the soldier with all the hate that she possessed and charged at him, knocking him over like a tackled football player.  
  
"That's my husband!" she yelled and used his gun to shoot the soldier until she was sure that he was dead. Blood splattered and crying, she crawled back to Zell. "Zell." she whispered.  
  
Regardless of the fighting around her Clarissa lay down the gun next to her own shotgun and hugged him. "You can't die." she said, many tears dripping onto Zell's blood-soaked shirt.  
  
"Clarissa!" he croaked. "I.I." he stopped, unable to speak anymore. He just stared into her water filled eyes and smiled.  
  
"Zell! Don't die! Please!" Clarissa whispered. Zell closed his eyes and lay limp in Clarissa's arms. "No." she whispered and lay her head down on his chest.  
  
She raised her head when she heard a strange song coming from thin air and a large orange and red bird appeared, it's wing's beating softly and it looked down at them.  
  
"Phoenix." she whispered as the bird swooped down beside Zell and landed near his arm. The bird looked as though it were crying. The bird used its head to turn Zell onto his side so that his back was facing Phoenix.  
  
Phoenix placed its head onto Zell's back and some miraculous happened. The large stab mark was going away and only left Zell's cut as a scar.  
  
Clarissa looked at the Phoenix in awe but her attention was focus on Zell who was stirring. "Zell!" she whispered and hugged him, Zell's arms encircled Clarissa and the Phoenix rose into the air. It's song still hovering over them as the bird disappeared.  
  
"Zell!" she whispered again into his ear.  
  
"Clarissa." he said softly.  
  
"I thought that I'd lost you." Clarissa said.  
  
"You did. for a moment. would you like to know what heaven's like?" Zell whispered.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Not nearly as beautiful as being here with you." Zell whispered.  
  
"We should split up!" Quistis suggested as they hid in the shadows right outside the presidential palace.  
  
"Good Idea but I need someone to create a diversion." Said Squall. He was about to decide that he would but before he could Sirus nodded and ran out into the open, attracting all the soldiers to where he was.  
  
"He's like me!" said Seifer proudly.  
  
"Yeah, stupid!" Snorted Squall and Seifer shut up.  
  
"Ok, now's our chance! Seifer, you and Quistis head to the back, Rinoa, Ellone and I will go through the front now!" he said. Quistis and Seifer took off right away. Once they were out of view Squall nodded and they went along the side of the palace quietly.  
  
Right before they got into the elevator Squall looked back to see Sirus fighting off about 10 soldiers, he was losing and fell to the ground. "Oh no!" said Squall and turned back to Rinoa and Ellone.  
  
"You guys go, I'll meet you up there! I've gotta go and help Sirus!" said Squall and ran off before they could say anything.  
  
Squall pulled out his Lionheart and swooped in like a bird, killing the soldier that was aiming to kill Sirus with one last blow.  
  
He worked up enough energy to do his special attack, Renzokuken enough times to kill them off and he held out his hand to Sirus. "Here." Said Squall and handed him a potion. "It'll help."  
  
Sirus used the potion. "Thanks." He said.  
  
"You know, that was stupid, what you did." said Squall, frowning at how he was like Seifer, yet also like him; willing to do anything for the one he loved.  
  
"Sorry, sir. I just want to help in any possible way." He said.  
  
"That's ok, Sirus. I know you want to help Aurora too."  
  
They walked back to the entrance, which was currently empty, at the moment anyway, and used the now returned elevator to get into the presidential palace.  
  
"Over here." Said Squall to Sirus and they moved along the wall into another corridor, the one leading right to Laguna's office.  
  
"Squall!" said Rinoa as her and Ellone rounded the corner after they did. "There you are!"  
  
"She's probably in there." said Squall pointing to Laguna's office.  
  
"Ellone, are you ready?" Rinoa asked.  
  
Ellone stepped forward and nodded. "I'm ready." She said.  
  
"Alright, let's go around here." said Squall, gesturing to a corridor nearby that should be safe.  
  
They entered the corridor and Ellone stood near a wall. She stood completely still and closed her eyes to enter Aurora's mind and talk to her.  
  
IN AURORA'S MIND  
  
Aurora stared out the window through her former body. She was still nothing more then a mind, split into three. Her, Ultimecia and Adel.  
  
The sky was darkening and the battle was ongoing. It looked to her as though the Garden was losing, but she refused to accept it.  
  
"You might as well give up that small bit of hope that you have." Said Ultimecia to Aurora, sensing her emotions.  
  
"Be quiet." Said Aurora through their mind.  
  
"Both of you be quiet." Said Adel. "Just because you're here in my mind doesn't mean that you can talk to each other. Oh well, at least once I get stronger again I can push you two out. all that I need is Ellone to do that. Once she pushes through you two, you will be pushed out and I can use you in a better way."  
  
"What are you talking about." Demanded Ultimecia. "How can Ellone help you. all she can do is bring your consciousness to the past, being why I need her."  
  
"Your not very bright are you." Said Adel. "Ellone can connect with anyone she want's, even if it doesn't mean going into the past. Besides, if she enters this mind, she'll push you two out, without knowing it."  
  
Aurora silently agreed; she knew that, but wasn't about to agree with a sorceress more evil and cunning then Ultimecia. At least Ultimecia still had a small piece of love and peace left somewhere in her heart, even if she did do all of those terrible things. She was, after all, Rinoa.  
  
"Oh, so you agree do you!" said Adel to Aurora.  
  
"H. How do you know?" Aurora thought.  
  
"We are in the same mind you know." said Adel, "Join me." She said simply to Aurora, "Don't worry, Ultimecia cannot hear us now. Join me and we can rid the world of Ultimecia and we can put our powers in one, to over power the present time, not the useless dream of time compression that she wants."  
  
"NO!" Aurora screamed.  
  
"Aurora." came a voice from out of nowhere; a soft and friendly voice, one that she needed to hear.  
  
"Aunt Elle!" Aurora said.  
  
"I'm here. Are you." she began but Adel heard this and began to laugh.  
  
"HAHAHAHA! So she did come. how naïve of her!" Adel laughed.  
  
"Ellone!" came Ultimecia's voice.  
  
"Oh my god!" Ellone said. "Ultimecia! You're here!"  
  
"Hahaha. yes, she is." Said Adel, "But she isn't the one that you should be worried about!"  
  
A strange sensation came through Aurora's mind and she felt as though she was dying but only being born at the same time.  
  
"Yes! I'll definitely be the most powerful sorceress in the world now!" Adel cried with an evil joy.  
  
Aurora's vision was fading and then there was nothing, nobody. She couldn't hear anything. "Am I dead?" she thought.  
  
Suddenly her vision came back and she looked around. In front of her was Adel, back in her own body glowing with red. She was glowing with power. Aurora looked to her left and saw Ultimecia, lying on the ground, staring at Adel in horror.  
  
Aurora tried to get up but was too weak but she'd come to the realization that she was back in her own body.  
  
***************************************************  
  
"ELLONE!" Squall cried as Ellone collapsed onto the floor. "What happened!" he thought.  
  
"What happened to Ellone!" said Quistis who had just showed up with Seifer.  
  
"We don't know! She just collapsed." Said Rinoa.  
  
Squall stood up and began to run he ran right towards Laguna's office, Sirus at his heels followed by Rinoa. Quistis and Seifer stayed with Ellone.  
  
Squall threw the doors open and stepped in with Rinoa and Sirus.  
  
"AURORA!" Sirus cried when he saw her, and he ran to her. 


	6. 11,12

AUTHORS NOTE  
  
Thank you both for the reply. I think you'll like the rest.  
  
Umm, yeah, Ultimecia does use' 'k' instead of 'c', and I even thought about it too, but guess I forgot. Enjoy the next bit! (sorry it took so long)  
  
~Chapter XI..................The Signal  
  
'C'Mon! You stupid machine!" yelled Jem as he fiddled around with the Garden's manual control panel.  
  
He sat, legs crossed, grease all over and in a bad mood on the bottom floor of the Garden. "Why won't this damn thing work!" Jem raged.  
  
He took his wrench and hit the machine. It turned on for a split moment and then off again. "Aha!" he said and took a larger tool to the machine. He hit it several times in a row before it began beeping began and the platform began to rise. Soon he was on the pilot's deck, looking up into the now dark sky, lit with bomb fire and air fighting.  
  
"IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" he cried and jumped up and down. "I wonder if there's any jet's left?" he thought and used the lift to head down to Quistis's office and then out to the aircraft ramp.  
  
***********************************************  
  
"Come in, Ragnarok One." Said Dawn frantically into her COM system that went to all of they're jet's and the two Ragnaroks.  
  
She changed the directory button and turned it on again. "Come In, Ragnarok Two!" she said and was returned with a faint buzzing and then someone came on.  
  
"Roger, Airstrike 4." Said the voice.  
  
"Nida. I can't get them either." said Dawn through the COM system.  
  
"I'm sure they're ok." said Nida from the Ragnarok two. "I'm sure that they're just out of range."  
  
"What's our status?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Two Airstrike. You and Airstrike 2, but the other three are down. Ragnarok one is out of range and I'm here." Replied Nida.  
  
Dawn sighed and slumped back in her pilot's chair of her small jet.  
  
"Roger that." She said glumly and hung up the COM. "These Estharian's are gonna get it."  
  
She steered her jet back towards Balamb Garden to gas up when she saw someone waving frantically of the ramp, once she got closer she realized that it was Jem and she steered her jet towards the ramp and landed right away. As soon as she opened her bottom hatch Jem was there with a triumphant look on his face.  
  
"I did it! The Garden's ready to go!" he said happily.  
  
"What! But how?" Dawn asked in awe.  
  
"I hit the machine." He said shyly.  
  
"You what?" she said in confusion.  
  
"Nevermind. That's not important." he said with a wave of his hand.  
  
"Alright. go and get me some gas. I need to gas up, you can come with me, we've gotta give the Garden cover while everyone gets in. I'll tell Nida to head back." said Dawn.  
  
"Sure thing." Said Jem and ran off.  
  
Dawn ran back to the COM and flicked the switch on and turned the knob to communicate with the Ragnarok Two. "You there, Nida!" said Dawn excitedly.  
  
"Here." Said Nida.  
  
"The Garden's fixed. come get it going! The other Jet, and Jem and I will give you cover while everyone gets in. We'll give the signal." Said Dawn.  
  
"Alright! I'm on my way!" said Nida; it amazed Dawn on how he was still so 'young' at heart.  
  
"What about the other Ragnarok?" asked Dawn.  
  
"We can't hold the Garden off for them. We've gotta go. they'll find they're way. It's Selphie and Irvine, they'll be here soon." Said Nida. ". I know we should wait but we have to withdraw, they just keep coming!"  
  
"Sure." Said Dawn.  
  
"Over and out." Replied Nida just as Jem showed up and filled the jet with gas and Dawn shut off the COM.  
  
"Let's go!" said Dawn and Jem climbed onto the jet.  
  
"What do we use as the signal?" asked Jem as they got off the ramp and into the air, right towards enemy jets.  
  
Dawn flew in and out of some jets and even managed to shoot down two of them but there were still too many, they just kept coming.  
  
"Dawn?" asked Jem. "What do we use for a signal?"  
  
"Look in the hatch there." Said Dawn softly and Jem opened the hatch to find some explosives.  
  
"Dawn. we can't use these, we won't have enough time to get out of the way!" said Jem, thinking about how fast they would explode if they dropped them if they dove close enough.  
  
"I know. I know. That's why we use it at the right place. I'll dive down low enough for you to drop the explosives out the bottom hatch door then I'll pull straight up. We should be far enough away to not be affected." Said Dawn.  
  
"Are you sure. how will they know that it's a signal for a draw back?" Jem asked as he pulled out the explosives with care.  
  
Dawn sighed. "We'll dive right in the middle of the Estharian soldiers." She said.  
  
"You're crazy." He smirked, "But it can be done." Said Jem and opened the bottom hatch door. "Tell me when to light them." He grabbed matches from in the hatch where the explosives were.  
  
Dawn circled the battle, staring down at the gore all around. Soldiers killing student's, student's killing soldiers, blood. it was almost too much gore her to handle. The students were becoming far too outnumbered, luckily it seemed that it wasn't because it was all students dying, it was that more soldiers were coming. More then 75% of the original Garden students still seemed to be fighting.  
  
"Now." She said as she positioned herself for a dive. Jem lit the end of the thread leading to the explosives and Dawn dived almost straight down at the ground, into the heart of the Estharian Soldiers that were on their way to the battle.  
  
"Pull up Dawn." Said Jem in a frightened voice.  
  
"Not yet!" said Dawn as they became so close to the ground that she could see the people's frightened faces. Finally she pulled up, just in time for Jem to drop the explosives.  
  
It all seemed to happen to slow for Dawn. She reefed the steering straight down, which directed the jet upwards, as the explosives boomed. Nearly all the oncoming Esthar soldiers were killed. As Dawn was pulling up she saw an enemy jet behind her; it was trailing her closely. While going back up Dawn tried to lose the jet but it fired, just enough to nick the bottom of her jet and making them lose two of the three engines.  
  
"I've gotta land!" said Dawn as the jet slowly began to recline in height, they were now right over the vast Esthar city.  
  
"You can't land here!" said Jem. "We're in the middle of Esthar!"  
  
"But we'll crash if I don't!" argued Dawn. "I'm landing. we'll have to hide or something. I'm not going to die."  
  
Jem said nothing, he knew that he couldn't argue with her, so Dawn did an emergency landing right in the middle of Esthar, on one of the many translucent blue roads.  
  
"We've gotta get outta here!" said Jem as they saw Esthar soldiers heading up the road to the jet.  
  
They both slide out of the bottom hatch and inched along the back of the jet and made a run for it so they could duck into a dark park that was nearby.  
  
"Whew." said Dawn as the soldiers reached the crashed jet and looked around blankly, wondering where the pilot was.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"Whoa!" said Zell as he just finished defeating a soldier and he saw one of they're own jet's take a dangerous dive and come back up again, leaving some sort of explosion right in the middle of the oncoming Esthar soldiers.  
  
"What was that all about?" asked Clarissa who'd just ran up beside Zell and was panting hard.  
  
"I don't know. it was some sort of sign though, I mean. why would they do that unless it was important? That's suicide!" said Zell, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh my god, LOOK!" said Clarissa, half shocked; half-happy. The Garden had lit up again and was looking as if it was ready to go.  
  
"It's a sign to withdrawal!" said Zell. "Why else?!?"  
  
Zell whistled as loud as he could and got many of the student's attention. "WITHDRAWAL NOW! THE GARDEN IS READY TO GO, WE NEED TO GO NOW!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Within three seconds, he saw student's running right to the Garden, leaving unfinished battles.  
  
Zell and Clarissa followed, running quickly. Once at the Garden entrance Zell stopped and looked out into the Esthar grounds and sighed as he saw all the dead bodies of SeeD and Garden student's.  
  
"Zell?" asked Clarissa who stopped with him. "Are you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine." He said quietly and looked up to the rising moon, the sky was now dark and starry and he thought about how his some of his comrades were still out there.  
  
"Please be alright." he thought as he remembered that his friends were in Esthar.  
  
*********************************************  
  
Once up at Quistis's office Zell and Clarissa went up to the pilot's deck to see Nida.  
  
"Hey, Nida." Said Zell. "Where're we going? Shouldn't we wait for Squall and everyone?"  
  
Nida didn't seem to be paying attention, he was looking out into the sky.  
  
"Nida?" asked Zell.  
  
"Huh?" said Nida suddenly.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Zell.  
  
"The other Ragnarok. Irvine and Selphie. they never came back!" said Nida who was still looking out into the sky.  
  
"What!" said Zell in surprise and grief. He knew that if they weren't back by now then it was a great possibility that they crashed, or they were.. dead.  
  
"Oh my God." Clarissa breathed.  
  
Zell slumped to the ground, holding back tears that were swelling in his eyes. "They never came back!" he asked again and shook his head.  
  
"We've got to go! They're attacking the Garden, now!" Clarissa said, as the Garden shook violently with a blast.  
  
"You're right. I'm sorry Zell. we do have to go!" Nida agreed and took the controls, the Garden began to move slowly at first but gained speed, heading away from Esthar.  
  
"But." Zell argued, knowing that all his friends were in Esthar and Irvine and Selphie were lost or dead.  
  
"I'm sorry, Zell." Said Clarissa.  
  
"I know. I know. At all costs, we can't put the Garden at risk, if we can help it." He said quietly.  
  
~Chapter XII..............Weaknesses  
  
"Get back!" Adel roared at Sirus as he ran straight to Aurora. She blasted him backwards, hard against the wall. Nearby, stood Dean, almost doubled over in laughter as Adel approached Sirus slowly, glowering down at him as he groaned in pain.  
  
"Sirus?" Aurora moaned.  
  
"Pitiful. Your even weaker then I would have thought." She muttered and picked him up by the neck and threw him to the opposite wall, leaving him unconscious.  
  
"Enough!" yelled Squall and Rinoa both at the same time, starting forwards.  
  
"Boring." Said Adel airily. She rose her hands in the air and seemed to be gaining energy. It revolved in her hand for a moment; its redness growing brighter and she threw it at Squall. He landed against the wall, pinned at the hands and feet by energy strands. He couldn't get out.  
  
"As for you!" Adel sneered as she looked down at Rinoa. "Your just a pain, its time that I be rid of you, once and for all."  
  
She once again seemed to be gaining energy from the air around her, into a small ball in the palm of her hand and she threw it at Rinoa. Instead of pinning her to a wall Rinoa was hit backwards and bounded into Aurora who was slowly trying to get up but was knocked over.  
  
"Get out of the way!" Adel hissed at Aurora and took her arm, pulling her away from Rinoa who stood cowering before Adel.  
  
Still holding onto Aurora, Adel sneered down at Rinoa and smirked. It seemed very sudden but with Adel's outstretched hand, beams of blue light streamed from Rinoa into Adel. Rinoa collapsed.  
  
"No powers to help you now." Adel whispered harshly.  
  
"Rinoa!" Squall cried helplessly from behind Rinoa.  
  
"Not even your dear husband to save you from the evil, evil sorceress!" she laughed.  
  
Squall was staring at Adel and Rinoa with horror; he glanced over at Ultimecia who had gotten up. His expression changed from horror to confusion. Ultimecia began to inch towards Rinoa.  
  
"Now, I believe I was about to be on with something." Adel sneered down at Rinoa and raised her hands above her head. Palms to the air a bluish purple light came out of nowhere and was going into her hands making a beam go straight up from her hands.  
  
Adel closed her eyes and tilted her head downwards. "Time to go!" she hissed at Rinoa who had stood up again, stumbling, and begun moving slowly backwards.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" said Adel as she opened her eyes to see Rinoa turning to run. She took one hand out of the air and left the beam in one hand, she used the other to blast energy at Rinoa's legs that made her topple over, not able to walk to run anymore.  
  
Adel once again raised her hand and the beam of bluish purple light grew brighter and thicker.  
  
"Time to die." She whispered.  
  
"RINOA!" Squall yelled, tears ran down his cheeks, he was about to watch his wife and love die and he couldn't do anything about it. He struggled against the energy clasps around him but it was no use, he couldn't get out unless Adel let him out.  
  
Adel's eyes bored down into Rinoa's as she lay, wincing in pain. The light grew to about 1 foot wide, enough to kill anyone. The entire room was filled with a bluish purple light that illuminated everything that it touched.  
  
Squall's eyes widened in surprise as Ultimecia, who was inching slowly towards Adel had began to run and stepped firmly in front of Rinoa, blocking her from view. "No. don't, Adel." She insisted quietly. "Don't make me."  
  
"Don't make you what?" Adel demanded angrily and Ultimecia just glared at her, her eyes narrowing and her long black wings spreading slowly. "That's what I thought." Said Adel when Ultimecia remained silent. "You won't do anything, your too weak." She continued.  
  
"Don't push me. Leave her alone." Ultimecia said in a soft and misty sort of voice.  
  
"Your only trying to save yourself!" said Adel, in realization that if she destroyed Rinoa it would destroy Ultimecia too. Rinoa was Ultimecia's past and Ultimecia was Rinoa's future.  
  
Ultimecia stayed silent, staring up at Adel with pure hatred in her eyes. Squall, however, didn't stay silent. "Rinoa! Get out of the way!" he called to Rinoa but she still couldn't move, not only because of her legs but because she was paralyzed with fear and shock.  
  
"Be quiet." Said Ultimecia softly and turned back to Adel and glanced over at Aurora who was backed into the window and looking around fearfully, Sirus was still unconscious across the room.  
  
Out of the far shadows stepped put a young boy, near Sirus and walked slowly towards Adel, Ultimecia and Rinoa, his eyes placed coldly on Ultimecia who hissed at him to say back and he stopped, his eyes still raking around at the three of them.  
  
"Leave now!" Ultimecia said quietly and coldly to Adel whose eyes narrowed in loathing of Ultimecia.  
  
"Fine." She said simply, turning towards Squall. "Have it your way then." she continued, realizing she couldn't get to Rinoa. she'd have to get to someone else.  
  
With much strength, before Ultimecia could say anything, the beam of light was pointed directly at Squall and dropped, hitting him with much force and making him yell out in pain, she was killing him slowly.  
  
"NO!" Ultimecia screamed tragically, she dived into the beam and stopped it from hitting Squall who was released from the wall and was slumped at the bottom, unconscious.  
  
The beam pierced through Ultimecia, it seemed to be flowing through her and finally it stopped. Adel was laughing harshly and began to move towards Ultimecia but Rinoa crawled over and hung herself over her.  
  
"Kill us both then." she cried but Adel stopped, standing over them and staring down at Ultimecia in confusion.  
  
Ultimecia's eyes flicked open, the tattoos on the sides of her face were disappearing, and her hair had gone from the dark gray it was to black, like Rinoa's. It hung loosely on her back, whiteness traveled slowly down her wings until they were totally white. She had turned totally into Rinoa again, the goodness in her heart had finally taken over.  
  
"Close your eyes." she whispered to Rinoa who was leaning over her in a trance of amazement, she was looking into a mirror but she closed her eyes without hesitation and felt a strange sensation.  
  
Adel had stepped back in amazement and horror as both Rinoa and Ultimecia rose into the air, they're white wings carrying them. Ultimecia closed her eyes a blue haze surrounded them. Adel turned as a brilliant flash of white light filled the room for a split second and when she turned back Rinoa was floating back down to the floor, her eyes filled with determination. The powers that Adel had taken from her were back.  
  
"Your foul." Rinoa said in a sneer to Adel.  
  
"DIE!" Adel shrieked and created a large ball of red flames and threw it straight at Rinoa, who was thrown off her feet, though not for long; she stood up again, stepping forward.  
  
"GET AWAY!" Rinoa raged. She closed her eyes and threw her hand into the air, palm faced up and made a large icicle that she threw at Adel. It pierced her side and she stumbled backward.  
  
Rinoa didn't let up, she put her hands outwards and blasted spurts of blue beams at Adel but was startled as something threw her off her feet from the side.  
  
Dean had run forward and tackled her, but Adel was in too much pain to do anything quickly.  
  
"THIS ISN'T THE END!" she screamed and grabbed hold of Aurora, who had begun to run past her towards Rinoa.  
  
"Time to go!" she said in a cold and drawling voice, still clutching her side. "Say goodbye!"  
  
With a sharp crack, she disappeared with Aurora, Dean and Sirus who all turned red before disappearing.  
  
Rinoa climbed up off the ground and ran over to Squall just as the doors burst open with Quistis and Seifer standing framed in the arch holding up a weak Ellone.  
  
"What happened? Where's Aurora. is Adel still in here?. Where's Sirus?" demanded Quistis.  
  
"What happened to Squall?" asked Seifer who walked slowly over to them and kneeled over in front of Rinoa and Squall.  
  
"Adel's gone. with Aurora." said Rinoa and checked Squall's pulse he was still breathing, It was a miracle he was still alive after that blast.  
  
"What happened." Asked Seifer quietly.  
  
"I'll explain on the way out."  
  
Rinoa and Quistis held up Squall and Seifer held up Ellone who had begun to walk weakly. They slid along the walls in the corridors until they reached the final corridor, where the elevator was and stopped, remaining out of sight. The esthar soldiers were still around.  
  
"So, what happened?" asked Quistis after a long silence with only heavy breathing.  
  
Rinoa leaned against the wall and sighed. "Well." she began and then explained everything that had happened in Laguna's office.  
  
"So. let me get this straight." Said Seifer, letting Ellone lean against the wall and he walked over to Rinoa who was across the hall. "Ultimecia and Aurora materialized from Adel? How?"  
  
Rinoa looked thoughtful for a moment. "I. I don't know." She replied uneasily.  
  
"Ok, but now what I'm wondering is how Ultimecia turned good again. I mean. she's evil!" continued Seifer, almost ignoring what Rinoa had said, it all seemed so much in his head.  
  
"I already told you.." Rinoa said exasperatedly. "Ultimecia is my future, I'm her past. Ultimecia is me!"  
  
"But-" Seifer was interrupted by Quistis who was standing, her finger on her lips, her eyes growing wide, it looked like she'd just realized something.  
  
"I can see that now! Seifer, she's right!" said Quistis pointedly to Seifer who stood, his eyebrow arched in confusion.  
  
"But how, I mean, if she really was Rinoa then why would she have come back fifteen years ago and attempt to kill Squall and herself?" asked Seifer.  
  
"She didn't come back to kill Squall. he got in her way of time compression. Do you know why she wanted time compression?" said Quistis, holding her finger in the air.  
  
"To rule all time-"  
  
Quistis who was on a roll once again interrupted Seifer. "She wanted time compression to rule herself! She didn't want the entire world; she never wanted that. She wanted to get rid of her old self! She was embarrassed about who she was. That's why you became her knight, you had similarities that way, you never knew where you fit!"  
  
Ellone finally spoke but in a hushed tone. "Q. Quistis?" she asked. "If Ultimecia wanted to rule herself why would she try to kill Rinoa. wouldn't that be killing herself?"  
  
"No, it wouldn't." said Rinoa, and Quistis resumed talking again.  
  
"I wouldn't. she'd be killing her memory! Only others could kill her, she could kill her memory, its like forgetting something that's in the back of your mind that you barely even knew was there! Don't you see.Ultimecia still had herself, her powers were beyond imaginable but only one thing was stopping her from annihilating the world." she explained and then said softly, ".her heart was stopping her."  
  
"How?" asked Seifer, who was obviously still confused and began tapping his foot lightly.  
  
"Ultimecia still had Rinoa in there, Rinoa, the kind hearted and loving girl that she once was. Even though she was evil on the outside she was still good on the inside. All evil people have once had they're goodness in them, the only way to get rid of it is to kill it. She wanted time compression to kill her good self."  
  
Ellone nodded in understanding, but Seifer, however, still wasn't very convinced. "Oh, come off it!" he said crossily. "You're saying she went through all of that. that stuff to kill her good self?"  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Quistis said, nodding her head.  
  
"Makes sense." Rinoa intervened.  
  
"Well. maybe." Seifer agreed and tried to change the subject by saying that they should leave, he seemed rather annoyed by the logic that Ultimecia was Rinoa.  
  
"So, Ultimecia went into you?" Quistis asked Rinoa, ignoring Seifers expression.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know what happened. Adel shot energy at Squall and all of the sudden she dived in front, practically killing herself, shrieking "NO!". I went over to her and her wings turned white and then she looked like me. She told me to close my eyes and then I felt this surge of power." Rinoa explained, fumbling with her fingers and glancing nervously at Squall who was still unconscious.  
  
"I see. Well, it seems that Squall was her weak spot." Said Quistis thoughtfully.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Rinoa, tilting her head to the side.  
  
"You love Squall with all of your heart and you'd do anything for him, am I right?" asked Quistis.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, it seems that the love for you and Squall took her over, she couldn't stand to watch Squall die, it was too much and it overtook her. She turned back into you." Quistis said as if it were the most obvious thing ever.  
  
"Even after many years, Quistis, you're still the clever one!" Rinoa said, she would have never thought of all this. "But what I don't understand is how I will end up turning evil."  
  
Quistis shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Hate to break it too you but that is impossible to tell, it could be many things."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"What happened to Aurora and Sirus?" asked Ellone who had remained silent for most of the conversation.  
  
"I'm not sure. When Adel disappeared they were just gone." she said sadly.  
  
"Umm, guys. I think we'd better get going." Said Seifer finally as they heard loud voices down the corridors they'd just come from.  
  
Quistis and Rinoa held Squall up again and Seifer helped Ellone along and they edged along the walls towards the elevator and got on.  
  
Once it stopped they got off cautiously, staring out into the night sky. The sunrise was soon to come, they could see a faint orange glow in the eastern horizon and they headed off.  
  
"We'd better get out of here fast." Said Seifer. "I'm sure they've realized that Adel is gone, they'll know we were there."  
  
They all remained silent until Rinoa asked something that was bothering her. "I wonder where they went."  
  
"I don't know." Quistis whispered.  
  
"Hopefully they're safe." Rinoa thought about Aurora and Sirus, wondering where they were and if they were still alive.  
  
***************************************  
  
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	7. 13,14

AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
Thanks for the reply, selena, its great that your enjoying it. Once again, it was a chapter I enjoyed to write.. Anyway, heres more (I'll read more of both your stories).  
  
Chapter XIII.................The Wreckage  
  
Dawn looked up at the night's sky that was slowly drifting away to the west and with light arising to the east. Dawn and Jem walked slowly along the translucent blue road that glimmered in the fading moonlight and cast shadows of the buildings among them.  
  
"We're going the wrong way." Said Jem, pointing at the Palace in front of them, they were close enough to see the entrance.  
  
Dawn sighed. "Are we ever going to find a way out of this stupid city?" she asked, exasperatedly.  
  
"Not if we keep up the way we are.." he scowled as she kicked the road with her foot in frustration. "Shhh.."  
  
Dawn stared absentmindedly until something moving caught her eye and she squinted through the darkness at the palace entrance, a few people were coming out.  
  
"Guards!" she hissed and she grabbed Jem's arm. They dove out of view but the guards kept moving towards them, surely the Guards wouldn't come this far unless-  
  
"I think they saw us!" Jem whispered.  
  
"No way, I mean, how could they have?" Dawn said in a low voice as the footsteps grew closer and soon they were right near their hiding place.  
  
"Might as well get out and fight." said Jem and pulled out his gloves for fighting. Dawn pulled out her hand blades and they jumped out, ready to strike. As quickly as they jumped out, those in front of them were able to stand back well enough to prevent them from attacking. It was none other then the headmistress and master, Quistis and Seifer; Squall, Rinoa and Ellone were among them.  
  
Seifer had gotten his gunblade out before knowing who was there and they all stood ready, in combat positions until they recognized each other's faces.  
  
"What? How?" Quistis sputtered in alarm, she had let Squall's arm drop, he looked to be unconscious, in Dawn's opinion, and Rinoa seemed to be struggling to keep Squall up without falling over.  
  
"That's what we're wondering!" said Jem in 'would be smart' voice, still ready to strike for some reason. Dawn raised her arm and put it over Jems. He lowered his fists reluctantly. Seifer lowered his gunblade and tucked it away safely.  
  
"How did you guys get here?" asked Dawn.  
  
"Long story." Quistis stated abruptly. "How'd you get here?"  
  
"We had to emergency land. we had sent a signal to the battle with explosives and then an enemy jet fired at us and hit us." Dawn explained. "We think that they left in the Garden. Jem repaired it."  
  
"I see." said Quistis and stared out into the horizon, the sun was now visible in the dark horizon, peaking its brightness over the Grandidi forest.  
  
"Any reports?" Quistis asked.  
  
"Er. Airstrike 1, 3 and 5 went down during battle. Airstrike 2 is on the Garden with Ragnarok Two and Airstrike 4, our jet, is over there." Said Dawn, pointing backwards.  
  
"What about Ragnarok One with Irvine and Selphie?" asked Quistis anxiously.  
  
"Er." Dawn said, not wanting to say it. "Umm, we believe that Ragnarok One went down during battle, we lost contact with them before the battle was over."  
  
Quistis, Seifer, Rinoa and Ellone all gaped at them, with their eyes wide.  
  
Seifer didn't seem to know what to say and Rinoa lost balance and landed on the road with a thud, she didn't seem to care about the fact that she fell; her face was filled with sadness and tears ran down her cheeks.  
  
"Irvine and Selphie. dead?" she said, staring at the ground, hardly able to speak. "They can't be!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The bright garden illuminated against the sky that was turning light rapidly and they glided across the ocean slowly, heading towards Galbadia.  
  
"What business do we have in Galbadia?" asked Nida to Zell and Clarissa who were still on deck with him. "Shouldn't we be heading to Balamb to settle there for awhile?"  
  
Zell got to his feet; he had been sitting cross-legged, his head in his hands. "Laguna and Kiros are in Deling City on business. We need to go there and get them." he stared out into the horizon, the wind blowing through his hair (the pilot's deck didn't have cover).  
  
"It's getting' light now." Clarissa stated and walked a few steps over to Zell and put her arm around his waist. "It's gonna be alright, you know." She whispered, reassuringly.  
  
Zell sighed and looked down at her. "It won't be though. We've lost Squall's group in Esthar and we don't know what happened to Irvine and Selphie."  
  
"Do you think that Irvine and Selphie are still alive?" Clarissa asked Nida softly and calmly.  
  
Nida said nothing for a moment and then shook his head, unable to find the words to say. He wasn't sure at all whether they were still alive or not.  
  
"I wonder what happened in Esthar?" asked Zell in a concerned voice. "You'd think that they would have been back before we had left, what if they can't get out of Esthar. what if." he choked on his words, unable to continue.  
  
"Deling City, right ahead." Said Nida suddenly; Zell hadn't noticed the Galbadia continent in front of him before Nida spoke up. "What're we going to do when we get there?" Nida said, turning to look at Zell and Clarissa.  
  
Zell thought for a moment, considering what to do. He wasn't even entirely sure what business Laguna and Kiros even had in Deling City, Zell only knew that Laguna and Kiros should come back to Garden. They didn't know if Adel was gone. or what.  
  
"Well." Zell began. "First off, I'd like you to remain in the Garden. in case you need to head off. We don't know if Adel is here or not, she may still be in Esthar or she may even be dead but its best to take precautions."  
  
"And what are you going to do in Deling City?" asked Nida. "Are you taking Clarissa?"  
  
Zell shook his head, "No."  
  
"Why not?" demanded Clarissa, suddenly. "I can help, don't just leave me here."  
  
Zell sighed, frowning but couldn't turn down the determined look on her face. "Fine." And Clarissa nodded.  
  
"Once we get in we're just going to find Laguna and Kiros and that's it. No messing around but like I said, Nida." Zell said pointedly to Nida, ". if you've got to leave then just leave. We're going to walk in but who knows what may happen, we'll figure out something to do if you have to leave."  
  
"I don't - " Nida started but Zell held up a hand to silence him.  
  
"I know its stupid, nothing is probably going to happen but it's just a precaution, alright."  
  
Nida nodded. "Alright then, we're here anyway." He pointed ahead and Deling City glowed against the now lighting sky.  
  
"Let's go then." Zell gestured for Clarissa to follow and they headed out.  
  
'Good Luck!' said Nida. Zell simply nodded and they left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Deep in the brush of the Grandidi forest, crashed wreckage lay burning and spread out over a rather large space. The sun peaked over the trees, morning sunlight shone down onto the wreck.  
  
Under a particularly large piece of wreckage came a low groan and Irvine pushed the metal wreckage off him self and stood up. He clutched his arm, which was cut very deep along his forearm, and a cut leaked a bit of blood on his forehead.  
  
He took the bottom of his already ripped jacket and tore off a piece and wrapped it firmly around his forearm to stop the blood.  
  
"Selphie?" he yelled hoarsely.  
  
A low moan of reply came from nearby, under an even larger piece of jagged metal then Irvine was under before. "Selphie, is that you?" Irvine asked, his voice still very hoarse.  
  
"Y.Yeah?" said a low raspy voice, Selphie's voice.  
  
Irvine saw a foot underneath the metal and walked straight over to lift it off of her. "Are you alright?" he asked in a concerned voice, looking down at her leg, her knees were both very bloody and she had a large bump on her head. She arms and the rest of her legs that weren't bleeding were full of bruises.  
  
Selphie groaned as Irvine took her hand and lifted her off the ground. "I'll be okay." She then glanced around at the wreckage. "What happened?"  
  
"We crashed. Remember?" Irvine said.  
  
Selphie nodded, "Yeah. I remember now. I wonder where we are though?"  
  
Irvine didn't say anything, he knew as well as she did, even though she was asking, that they were obviously lost in the forest. He walked over to the large piece of jagged metal that he was under and retrieved his cowboy hat from underneath, setting it on his head.  
  
"We might as well go, I guess." Said Irvine, his voice returning to normal.  
  
"Yeah, looks like its sunrise. We've been here all night." She said and then her eyes widened. "Oh no. what d'you think happened to the battle? I hope they're alright."  
  
"Me too." Irvine said shortly, wondering if the Garden was totally destroyed now. He could tell that Selphie was thinking the same thing because she had begun to shake nervously. He decided to change the subject.  
  
"Where's our weapons?" he asked and Selphie looked around.  
  
"Mine's right here!" she said, moving towards a small clearing where her morning star was. "Yours is over there." She pointed to a pile of metal; Irvine's gun was tucked underneath.  
  
"Let's find a stream to get some water from, then we should head up there to look around." He said, pointing at a large mountain with a visible traveling path that looked to be made by animals.  
  
"Alright." said Selphie and they began to walk, Selphie limping slightly. Soon enough they heard the trickle of a stream though the bushes. Once they reached it they were slightly disappointed; it was barely a stream at all. It was more like a trail of water about one foot wide, nevertheless-  
  
"Let's drink some anyway, we might as well." Said Irvine and cupped his hands together. As he set his hands into the water he felt the pleasant feeling of coldness running through his fingers.  
  
After awhile they had decided to set off, they traveled past the narrow stream and towards the mountain that Irvine had pointed to earlier.  
  
After nearly twenty minutes, which to them, seemed an eternity, they reached flat ground but they were still surrounded by the green forest trees and bushes. They kept going, although they were very much out of breath, until they saw a large clearing that lead out onto a large open rock.  
  
"We can look around from there!" exclaimed Selphie. "Maybe we can even find a way out of the forest, we can't be far from the edge, can we?"  
  
Once they reached the clearing Selphie ran ahead, ignoring the searing pain her legs. She stopped abruptly, near the edge of the cliff of the rock and the collapsed as she looked around. Irvine understood why.  
  
"From as far as they could see it was all lush and thick greenness of the Grandidi Forest. A few cliffs and mountains like the one they were on stuck out but other then that it was all forest.  
  
"What are we going to do now?" asked Selphie in a panicked tone, "We'll never get out of here! Even if Garden survived the battle they'd be gone by now. Squall and Rinoa's group is bound to be gone too! They probably think that we're dead. they won't come looking for us out here!"  
  
Irvine slumped down beside Selphie and looked out into the horizon but stood up suddenly as he said something. "Look, Selphie!" he had wanted to yell happily but he was so tired all that came out was a low murmur.  
  
"Seriously, Look!" he pulled her up and pointed to a place pretty far away but just close enough to see.  
  
"It's the Chocobo Sanctuary!" he exclaimed, but Selphie gave him a strange look. "Don't you see? We can use Chocobos to get out, they're fast and they always know how to get out of forests!"  
  
Selphie didn't seem to convinced by this, but Irvine was. "Listen, all that we've got to do is head directly straight and we'll be there in about a day or two, walking! Then we'll be about to get out of here!"  
  
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Chapter XIV..............Presidental Manner  
  
"With all do respect, Landers, I see no reason for you to refuse my proposal!" said Laguna angrily to Joseph Landers, the president of Galbadia. "Sorceress Adel is back now. we know it. My grand-daughter is in grave danger, Adel has possessed her and the entire world is close to Adel's grasp."  
  
Landers slammed his fist down on the desk of General Caraway where Caraway stood to the side, staring out the window into the sunrise that glowed softly over Deling City.  
  
"Loire, just because you're the 'most powerful' man in the world. just because you're the president of the 'all great' Esthar, doesn't mean that you can demand me to put my country at risk for you." Landers stated, seriously.  
  
"Yes. I know that you shouldn't have to but that's not the point," Laguna urged, "The point is, we need to be united. I have reason to believe that my country is her first target. she may have already taken it but once she has succeeded she'll be after Galbadia. Mark my words."  
  
"Your only doing this to protect yourself, you don't care if Galbadia is taken over. you just don't want your country to go to pieces," Landers said, "It will because of the way you run things which is very amateur."  
  
Laguna began pacing back in forth, scowling, in front of Kiros who was sitting silently on the couch, listening intently to their conversation and tutting now and then at Landers remarks.  
  
"It wouldn't hurt to try, Mr. President," said Kiros after a long, awkward silence, "I mean. I know Galbadia and Esthar have had there differences in the past but if we don't want to be destroyed then we should put aside our ways and unite together to defeat Adel before she becomes too strong." "Precisely!" said Laguna.  
  
"Not a chance!" said General Caraway and Landers at the same times. Caraway said it slightly louder then Landers as he moved away from the window and stared at Laguna, his eyes flashing.  
  
Just as Laguna sighed and was about to continue to argue a loud crash made him jump a little and he looked behind him to see a few Galbadian soldiers come running in, looking frantic.  
  
"Mr. President. General Caraway," the one on the left said, "We have a problem."  
  
"Not now, we're busy at the moment. Can't it wait?" said Caraway, looking rather angry at the disturbance. Laguna wouldn't have been surprised if he fired the soldier right there and then by the look upon his face.  
  
"I'm sorry, sir. It cannot wait." Said the soldier on the left and then the soldier on the right spoke up. "Deling City is out of control. People are panicking. there have been several riots. We heard word that there is a sorceress here. and is demanding to see you."  
  
Landers blanched. "What!" he said, his voice both furious and angry, "Where is the sorceress. who is she?"  
  
"She's at the presidential residence. its sorceress Adel." Said the soldier on the left.  
  
Laguna turned to Landers and smirked a little, "So what do you say, Landers?" he asked.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The hot sun burned down onto Irvine and Selphies backs through the trees. It was midday in the Grandidi Forest and they trudged along silently, hungry, sweating and in pain.  
  
"D'you think we're nearly there?" asked Selphie in a hoarse voice.  
  
"No, Selphie," Said Irvine exasperatedly. "I told you already, it'll take us at least the rest of the day to get there, if not tomorrow too, if we stop for camp. Especially at the rate we're going!"  
  
Selphie groaned, " I wonder if there's a stream anywhere. or better yet, a lake! Then we can go swimming for a minute!"  
  
"Maybe." Irvine said in a less then sure voice, but tried to keep his hopes up and just prayed that they were still going in the right direction.  
  
They walked slowly, in silence once again, until Selphie shouted out and when Irvine turned around, she had disappeared.  
  
"Selphie?" he asked quietly, and looked around.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What's going on?" asked Clarissa, quietly, as they stepped through the Deling City gates and saw several riots and people screaming.  
  
"I've no idea." Zell said, his eyes wide and concerned, "We'd better find Laguna and Kiros though. tell'em what's happened."  
  
"Yeah." Agreed Clarissa and they began moving along the road, avoiding anyone who looked slightly murderous.  
  
"Where do you think that they are?" asked Clarissa as they neared the presidential residence, still moving cautiously as ever and carefully avoiding anyone near them.  
  
"Probably here." Zell said as they rounded the corner into the large plaza in front of the residence but soon realized that they couldn't be there.  
  
As they moved into the open they saw something that made them move quickly backwards, towards the large archway. In front of the residence several people were lying on the ground. they looked to be either unconscious or even dead and behind the people stood someone towering over everyone else. someone they only recognized all to well.  
  
"Adel!" sputtered Zell. "But how. when. I thought Aurora. I mean."  
  
"Zell," said Clarissa, her eyes flicker back and forth between Adel and the people around them. "Come on. we've gotta get out of here. We need to find Laguna and Kiros, don't we?"  
  
"Y.Yeah." said Zell, "Let's go then."  
  
They tore off to the side, down a path towards General Caraway's mansion, looking back every now and then. "I bet they're at Caraways. that's where Laguna would go. maybe. if not to the presidential palace."  
  
"Zell, what if." Clarissa started but Zell finished her sentence.  
  
".she has them?" he said, ". there's no way she could, is there?"  
  
"But how do you know for sure? If Adel got there and. and." she said, looking over at Zell frowning.  
  
"I guess we'll have to find out then, won't we." Said Zell as they crossed the road full of rioting people and ran down the path towards Caraway's mansion.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Loire." Landers began, but was unable to finish what he was going to say when Laguna interrupted him. He spoke to Caraway who had just dismissed the two soldiers.  
  
"Caraway," he said menacingly, "Aurora is your grand-daughter too. It's Rinoa's daughter for Hyne's sakes! If not for the world then do it for your own grand daughter and your daughter."  
  
Caraway sighed, his cold eyes seemed to turn soft. Laguna knew he'd hit the spot.  
  
"Mr. President. I think that we should do this with Loire. Even if the countries still aren't on good terms when this is over." said Caraway, turning to Landers, "We may be able to save Galbadia and Esthar."  
  
Landers took a deep breath and seemed to be doing some very quick thinking. "I suppose." he said. "Alright. You win Loire. I'll order out to Galbadia that we are to help out your country, but that means you'll have to help defend mine."  
  
Laguna nearly jumped for joy. Instead, he nodded and leaned over the desk to shake Landers hand. "You won't regret this, Landers."  
  
"Let's hope not." Said Landers and very reluctantly, shook Laguna's hand.  
  
"I should head back to Esthar. see what happened there. Balamb Garden was headed there when we took off," said Laguna, "You can come to Esthar with your fleet if you want to. unless you'd rather stay and be called if you're needed."  
  
"Why was Garden heading to Esthar?" asked Landers, frowning.  
  
"My son, Squall, and his crew went to find Aurora. they hoped to be able to bring her back." Laguna answered.  
  
"I see. Squall, he is the SeeD commander, am I right?" asked Landers.  
  
"Yes." Said Laguna curtly, "Why?"  
  
"I won't allow Balamb Garden to take part in this, it's too dangerous. He won't have any say in what will happen." Said Landers.  
  
"But why?"  
  
"It is dangerous because Galbadia and Balamb Garden, any Garden at that, haven't been on very good terms ever since the Trabia Garden incident 15 years ago when they were bombed." Landers replied.  
  
"You can't be on much worse terms then my country and yours?" asked Laguna.  
  
"Oh, but we are," intervened Caraway, "We even tried to bomb Balamb and we took over the Galbadia Garden before Landers was president. They do not want anything to do with us. I hardly think that we can work together."  
  
"Listen, Garden is a good asset to have on our side." Laguna said, "Especially with Squall as the SeeD commander! I'll talk to him and SeeD will help us. it will make us stronger."  
  
"We shall see. we shall see." Landers said in a final tone. "But, I'm afraid that I cannot accompany you to Esthar. My place is here, with my country. There's no way that I can leave them. I'll send Caraway with you."  
  
Laguna nodded in understanding, as he would do the same for his own country. "Very well." he said.  
  
Kiros stood up and followed Laguna and Caraway to the door. Before Laguna touched the handle it sprang open and Laguna was knocked over by Zell. They both fell on the floor. Laguna noticed Zell's wife was with him.  
  
"Laguna!" Zell gasped and sprang up, holding his hand out to Laguna and looked at the bewildered face of Landers.  
  
"Sorry." He said and then turned back to Laguna who began to speak.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Laguna.  
  
"It's Adel, she's here!" said Zell.  
  
"We know that already." Caraway said.  
  
"Did you know that it's really her though?" asked Zell.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Laguna asked, furiously.  
  
"I'm saying that it's really her. It's not Adel in Aurora's body. it's her."  
  
Laguna's eyes widened and he looked around the room; everyone seemed as awestruck as he did.  
  
"What happened to Aurora?" he asked quietly.  
  
"W. We don't know."  
  
"Where's Squall and Rinoa?" Laguna asked frantically.  
  
"Still in Esthar with Seifer, Quistis, Ellone and Sirus. I imagine." Zell shrugged, "We had to leave without them, after we withdrew."  
  
"Withdrew?" asked Laguna.  
  
"We battled with Esthar." Zell started to explain but Laguna interrupted again.  
  
"You battled with Esthar!"  
  
"Yes. after the Garden broke down." Zell was once again interrupted by Laguna.  
  
"The Garden broke down?"  
  
"YES! Now will you let me explain?" said Zell exasperatedly. "When we got to Esthar, Adel must have already taken over because the soldiers were coming towards us. We tried to withdraw before a battle happened but the Garden wouldn't move, it must have been damaged on the rough terrain."  
  
"We had no choice but to try and fight, Squall's crew left and went into Esthar as we headed out into battle. One of the mechanical students tried to fix the Garden as we fought and Nida plus some more students went out to battle the air fleet."  
  
"There were so many soldiers. almost twice as many as the students." said Clarissa, who'd moved beside Zell before he continued.  
  
"After awhile we saw some of the jets being taken down and then one did this strange dive thing and we figured it was a sign to withdraw, the Garden was fixed. We couldn't wait for Squall's crew to get back. there was too many soldiers and that wasn't our only worry, either. One of the Ragnarok's is missing."  
  
"And who was in the Ragnarok?" asked Laguna.  
  
"Irvine and Selphie." Said Clarissa and Laguna took a long and deep breath but said nothing.  
  
"We had to leave and we knew that we had to come here to get you," said Zell, "Laguna, I think that Esthar is in the hands of Adel and it looks to me like Galbadia is soon to be as well."  
  
*********************************************  
  
********************************************* 


	8. 15,16

Authors Note: Good to hear you like the.er. revival. I think you'll probably like what happens to them, but Chocobos. er... don't expect any of that... well.. you'll have to see.. Anyway, enjoy!  
  
Chapter XV...........A Familiar Face  
  
"Selphie?" Irvine called again, beginning to become very worried. She was no-where in sight. He walked slowly forward, looking around before each step that he took. "This isn't a game, Selphie. If your hiding or something just come out!"  
  
There was nothing but the regular sounds in a forest, birds chirping, animals breaking twigs and the soft wind shuttering the tree branches above.  
  
"Hmm."  
  
He took another step forward, to the exact spot where he'd last seen Selphie, he tried to call her name, but - "Sel.WHOOOOOAAAAAAAA!"  
  
The ground beneath him collapsed and he fell, feet first, down a long tunnel and began to slide. Not long after the tunnel came to an end and he was thrown, face first, onto the ground.  
  
He rolled over and groaned loudly in pain. The ground under him was soft and damp, like grass and mud after it'd rained, yet, it wasn't grass, and it was sort of solid, like rock. The air seemed to be stale as if been used over and over and it was extremely dark.  
  
"Selphie?" he croaked.  
  
"Irvine? Is that you?" sounded Selphie's voice out of the darkness, "Are you alright?"  
  
"Do you think I'm alright?" Irvine said angrily and sarcastically, "What happened anyway? Where are we?"  
  
"I don't know what happened," Selphie said as she helped up Irvine, ".Or where we are, at that."  
  
"What's that?" asked Irvine, pointing through the darkness at a far away gap in the wall that had some greenish light coming from it.  
  
"I don't know. should we look?" asked Selphie, warily.  
  
"Well, yeah." Irvine said, starting forwards, "What else are we gonna do?"  
  
They walked slowly over to the wall, tripping occasionally over rocks and what seemed to be roots but because it was so dark they couldn't tell for sure. Once they got to the gap, Selphie placed her hand onto the wall and felt it.  
  
"It feels like a tree or plant or something. it doesn't even feel like rock!" she exclaimed.  
  
"The floor doesn't either," Irvine said, "What is this place?"  
  
"Should we?" asked Selphie, placing her fingers in the gap on the wall where the greenish light was coming from.  
  
"Why not?" Irvine said, and placed his fingers on the other side of the gap. Together, they pulled with all of their might and gap moved apart, enough for them to walk through. They moved in front of the gap and looked inside. They both gasped.  
  
**********************************  
  
"Shhh! Guards!" hissed Seifer as they ducked out of view as much as they could but it was hard because there were so many of them. Seifer, Quistis, Rinoa, Ellone, Dawn, Jem and an unconscious Squall all huddled together, barely out of view of several guards moving their way talking about people sneaking around.  
  
"They're coming this way!" whispered Rinoa, who was panicky, "They're after us!"  
  
"C'Mon, this way!" said Quistis, gesturing to a nearby walkway that would hide them until they got into the building.  
  
One by one, leaded by Quistis, they filed down the walkway, crouching, and went into the building. Seifer and Jem followed last, carrying Squall.  
  
"Whew." said Dawn, wiping her forehead, "That was way too close for my comfort!"  
  
"Yeah." they all agreed and slumped inside the building, not realizing where exactly they were, just knowing that they were safer then on the streets with the guards hunting them.  
  
"And vat are ve doing here?" said a familiar voice.  
  
Everyone looked up and recognized whom the voice had come from. Dr. Odine was standing behind them, his eyebrows raised, looking very peculiar.  
  
Seifer drew his gunblade but Quistis put a hand out in front of him. "We're just hiding." she said, while scowling at Seifer for acting so soon, Dr. Odine hadn't done anything yet.  
  
"Whose side are you on?" asked Rinoa.  
  
"Don't be silly, Rinoa! Like he'll tell the truth anyway!" said Seifer, angrily, "I'll end this now."  
  
"No you won't!" Quistis snapped, "But out of curiosity, whose side are you on?"  
  
"Vhy? You're just going to kill me anyvay!" said Dr. Odine, eyeing Seifer up and down and slowly backing up, ready to run if he had to.  
  
"No, we won't." Quistis side glared at Seifer, warning him to stop while he still had control. "Well?" she asked Dr. Odine, still tossing looks at Seifer.  
  
"Vell, I'm vith whoever you vant me vith." He said.  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean!" snarled Seifer, raising his gunblade again.  
  
"Seifer, calm down." Rinoa snapped.  
  
"I mean that I'm vith whoever is on Esthar's side. I'm only looking out for the best for my country." Said Dr. Odine.  
  
"So, your not with Adel?" asked Quistis.  
  
"Vhy vould I be with her?"  
  
"You with her last time."  
  
"Vat are you talking about? I vasn't with her!"  
  
"Liar!" growled Seifer, "He was! I saw him even though I was brainwashed, even if he was brainwashed he'd still remember!"  
  
"You were, we saw you. You made the broadcast of Esthar's takeover only a month or so ago!" Quistis said, "Why are you lying?"  
  
Dr. Odine finally broke down. "Fine, I vas lying-"  
  
"See!" exclaimed Seifer but Quistis put a hand up to silence him.  
  
Dr. Odine started again, glaring at Seifer. "As I vas saying, I vas lying because I am ashamed that I could ever be taken over by something so evil. I vorked against her years and years ago to free Esthar."  
  
"Why'd you lie to us?" asked Rinoa softly, though, she was thinking about how he had worked against Adel years ago, with Laguna.  
  
"I just said!" exclaimed Dr. Odine, "I vas ashamed. You people do not get taken over so easily, except you." he added, nodding at Seifer.  
  
"That's it you little." Seifer started forwards but Rinoa held him back.  
  
"That's right! You vant to go outside and fisticuffs?" Dr. Odine said, jumping up and down.  
  
"I'll fisticuffs you."  
  
"Enough!" Quistis said loudly and glared at both of them, 'This is not the time to fight!'  
  
"Fine." grumbled Seifer and stopped trying to get at Dr. Odine.  
  
"Anyway," Quistis said, trying to keep the peace, "We're only hiding here to get away from the guards. We'll be gone soon, besides, we need to get to Adel. where-ever she is."  
  
"Vat happened to him?" asked Dr. Odine, pointing at Squall who was still unconscious.  
  
"Adel slammed him against a wall." said Rinoa.  
  
Dr. Odine dug in his pocket and pulled out a small bottle labeled, 'Super- Elixir'. "Here," he said to Rinoa, "Give him this." He tossed it to Rinoa.  
  
"Thanks" Rinoa opened up Squall's mouth and poured the elixir down his throat. Squall made a violent movement and then he coughed and gagged, but his eyes opened and he sat up, holding his head.  
  
"W.Where am I?" he asked.  
  
"Dr. Odine's house." Said Rinoa.  
  
"How'd I get here?"  
  
As Rinoa explained all about what happened, Dr. Odine turned back to everyone else. "You can come in and sit. No use leaving yet, the soldiers are everyvhere."  
  
Everyone came in and sat on the couches and Dr. Odine turned to Rinoa. "Are you not the sorceress who was taken over by Ultimecia?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"During the time compression about fifteen years ago?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I see. Vell, I imagine that Sorceress Adel vould be most interested in you then."  
  
"She wanted to kill me, but it was Ultimecia that was interested in me too. and Aurora." Said Rinoa airily.  
  
"Ultimecia? Aurora?" he asked, bewildered.  
  
'It wasn't even Adel in the first place, it was Ultimecia that came back. She possessed Aurora and then for some reason Adel possessed them both and somehow forced them out of herself.' Rinoa explained.  
  
"Oh." Said Dr. Odine. "I imagine that Aurora vould be your daughter then?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What happened to Ultimecia?" asked Dr. Odine.  
  
"I am Ultimecia. Ultimecia is I, we combined, she is my future and I'm her past but now we're the present in one." Rinoa said, twiddling with her fingers and Squall put his arm around her.  
  
"Vat?" asked Dr. Odine, still bewildered.  
  
"Well, you already know that all sorceresses do not age." said Rinoa.  
  
"Yes, vell."  
  
"Well, when I get to a certain age I would become evil, I would become Ultimecia. You see, her goal was to take over time so that she wouldn't have a past, it would only be her because the little part of me still lived inside her. or us." Rinoa explained slowly.  
  
"I see."  
  
"When she came back, she wanted to take over Aurora so that nobody would be able to live on and defeat her someday, even if it was her own daughter. When Adel took them both over and pushed them out and Ultimecia didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do."  
  
"How did you combine?" asked Odine.  
  
"I'm not sure exactly. Adel was hurting Squall and I couldn't help him. Ultimecia couldn't seem to take it so she jumped in front of the final beam of energy that would have killed him and nearly killed herself. We believe that Squall was her. I mean, my, weakness." Rinoa said softly.  
  
".the only thing that was good in Ultimecia's heart was still there. Her undying love for Squall." said Dr. Odine, in a final realization, "Your belief was correct."  
  
"Then something odd happened, her wings turned white from black and everything about her turned back to me, it was like a twin then she told me to close my eyes and I felt this surge of power. She is inside me now." Rinoa closed her eyes. "I can feel it."  
  
"I see! I see! She became her pure self again, all the goodness in her heart shone through!" exclaimed Dr. Odine. "Even with the vorst of sorceresses, they still have a small bit of goodness and it seems that this time it shone through. How curious!"  
  
Rinoa nodded slowly.  
  
"Now, you vant to find Adel?" asked Odine, clapping his hands together.  
  
"Yes." Said Quistis and Seifer at the same time, everyone else nodded but said nothing.  
  
"You may vant to start in Galbadia. It looks to me like Esthar has already been taken over; she'll be moving on to the next big power in the vorld."  
  
"What if she gets Galbadia?" asked Quistis.  
  
"Zat vould be a big problem and I imagine that her next target vould then be Garden." Odine said solemnly.  
  
"We've gotta find Aurora and Sirus!" exclaimed Squall so suddenly that everyone jumped, that was the first time they'd heard him speak out.  
  
"Should we split up?" asked Quistis. "Wouldn't they still be here in Esthar somewhere?"  
  
"Yeah, but who goes with whom?" asked Quistis, looking around at the seven of them.  
  
*******************************************  
  
"What do you propose we do?" asked Landers, walking over to Laguna, Kiros, Caraway, Zell and Clarissa.  
  
Laguna sighed, knowing he should stay. "We'll have to stay here. Esthar's been taken and there is no use fighting a losing battle over there until we're sure that Galbadia is definitely safe."  
  
"So, you are good for your word then." Said Landers, then turned to Caraway. "Get the army together, both air and ground. Does she have soldiers?" he asked Zell.  
  
"We didn't see any, but they may be coming." Said Zell.  
  
"Probably Esthar soldiers then, if she's really taken it over." Landers stated.  
  
"I'll help." Said Kiros, "I'll lead the air crew."  
  
Landers turned to Kiros and stared at him hard, as if searching inside for a definite leader, and then without any more hesitation, he said, "Good luck."  
  
"I'll lead the ground crew." Said Caraway.  
  
"I'm going to help with that." Said Landers, staring hard at Caraway.  
  
"But president!"  
  
"No arguing, Caraway. You know that I'm not going to sit and watch this." Said Landers in a huskily sort of voice, "I fight for my country, and I know you agree.er. deep down."  
  
Laguna turned to Zell and Clarissa. "We should go straight to Adel and try to drive her out." he said in an undertone.  
  
"What was that?" asked Landers. "You're going to what?"  
  
"We're going straight at Adel." Stated Laguna in a non-arguable voice.  
  
"That's gotta be the stupidest-"  
  
"Don't start." Said Laguna. "I've done this once before and I can do it again! Though, it was about 30 years ago or so." he added in a low voice, looking at the ground.  
  
Landers sighed. "No chance of changing your mind, huh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "Still that same suicidal heroic thing going on, huh?"  
  
"That's right." Said Laguna, proudly and smirked a bit. "Good luck, Major!"  
  
Laguna, Zell and Clarissa took off out the door, "What was that about? What do you mean, major?" asked Zell.  
  
"He was my major in the Galbadian army years ago. We never got along because of my crazy ways." He smiled in a devious way.  
  
"I see."  
  
"Look!" said Clarissa, pointing down the street where about three hundred soldiers dressed in flashy uniforms that Laguna recognized as his own Esthar soldiers.  
  
"They're brainwashed." Said Laguna, "No use in trying to stop'em, they'll just kill us."  
  
They continued running up the path until they reached the large arch where they'd seen Adel last.  
  
"There she is!" exclaimed Zell, looking just past the arch where Adel was standing.  
  
"Oh my god." said Clarissa, as they neared. Adel was holding a woman up by her neck. The woman was squirming and screamed, trying to get out but it was no use.  
  
Laguna stopped dead for a moment, staring at the woman. she looked oddly like someone that he used to know, someone who was very important. but who?  
  
"Raine?" he breathed as he got a closer look at the woman who was now gasping for breath. His eyes widened and he stopped dead, wondering whether or not it was her, but how could it be? It wasn't possible.  
  
At last, Zell punched Laguna in the arm and he gave a start, finally yelling, "Let her go!" and he took out his machine gun. He ran at Adel and starting shooting at her until she let the woman go and she backed off several feet to regain strength.  
  
Laguna ran over to the woman and knelt down beside her, the woman was massaging her neck. He stared down at her for a moment, realizing he was being crazy, it wasn't Raine. it couldn't have possibly ever been her. Still, he felt strangely sad.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked, anyway.  
  
"Y.Yeah." she said, and looked at Laguna.  
  
For a moment, their eyes locked and Laguna felt a jolt in his stomach that he hadn't felt since.  
  
"Watch out!" the woman suddenly said.  
  
Laguna turned quick enough to see a hand come swooping down. He wasn't fast enough to move, Adel had knocked him off of his feet and he flew several yards away. The woman ran over to him and knelt beside him as he got up.  
  
"You should get away from here." Said Laguna to the woman, as he stood up, with help from the strange woman.  
  
"Laguna!" yelled Zell, him and Clarissa were trying to fight off Adel. "We need your help!"  
  
Laguna took one last glance at the woman and another funny feeling grew in his stomach. Ignoring this, he took off to join Zell and Clarissa in the battle.  
  
"I'll be back." he whispered under his breath, "We'll see each other again."  
  
************************************************  
  
********************************************  
  
Chapter XVI...........The Lost Caves  
  
Laguna, Zell and Clarissa stood in front of Adel, staring her in the eyes, waiting for someone to make the first move. All around them people were running away, people breaking into houses and stores and small riots were breaking out.Adel seemed to be very pleased with this; she was smiling.  
  
"We can't beat her, can we?" whispered Clarissa. It was obvious that she was frightned, not only because of the look in her eyes, but also because her legs were shaking nervously and she'd never really been in a serious battle like this before.  
  
"We've done it before," said Zell, trying to be reassuring, "That was 15 years ago though." he added in an undertone so that she couldn't hear him.  
  
"Wretches." hissed Adel, sneering down at the three of them, "And you!" she snarled angrily, staring at Laguna with an insane hunger in her eyes, "I can finally get my revenge on you!" She put her arms into the air and boomed, "PAIN!"  
  
Laguna felt a sudden hot surge of pain flow straight through his body and he fell over. He could no longer see or even hear, only faint words that sounded like Zell saying something and a faint blast that rippled through the nights cool air. A blast that probably would have been louder if Laguna were able to hear better.  
  
He felt around in his waist buckle for a remedy that he'd had earlier but it wasn't there, he figured he must have dropped it earlier on. Another faint blast sounded and Laguna strained to hear what was going on, and he was thoroughly surprised when two hands lifted him off the ground and someone whispered, "Esuna!"  
  
As quickly as the searing pain had come, it seemed to be gone and he felt better. He was finally able to see and hear again, with no pain searing through his body.  
  
"Here, take this!" said a woman's voice.  
  
Laguna looked up and saw the mysterious woman that he'd saved from Adel. She was standing over him, holding what looked a lot like a high potion.  
  
Laguna took the potion, staring into her eyes. Feeling somewhat stronger, he stood up and said, "Thanks."  
  
"Just returning the favor!" she smiled, despite the fact that people were battling all around them, and Adel was nearby, fighting against Zell and Clarissa.  
  
"LAGUNA!" said Zell's voice urgently, "ARE YOU ALRIGHT? COME HELP US! QUICK!"  
  
"Er." said Laguna, but before he could say more the woman turned, still smiling, and ran off towards some people who looked to be in trouble.  
  
Laguna turned around just as Clarissa was casting a very powerful spell that had blown Adel backwards several feet.  
  
"She's. pretty. strong! Or. we're.. just.. weak!" panted Zell, as he did one of his Duel attacks on Adel after she'd used a blizzard attack on him that had left him weak. "Maybe. it's a combination. of both." he said.  
  
"Ah!" yelled Clarissa, as a small meteor that came out of thin air and was followed by several others.  
  
"Take cover!" shouted Zell to Clarissa and Laguna, who immediately took action. All three of them shouted the word, "Protect!" just as the meteors began to hit ground.  
  
Adel stared directly at Laguna and her eyes narrowed, "Firaga!" she hissed in a low and cold voice.  
  
Although still protected by his shield, Laguna felt as though he had been punched in the stomach and he nearly fell over, his coat caught fire and he shook it off. "THUNDAGA!" yelled Laguna, his heart thumping against his chest.  
  
Adel stumbled but she didn't fall over. Instead, she advanced on them, glaring, ready to attack.  
  
"She's too strong." Said Clarissa, looking over at Zell.  
  
"We've got to use a spell together!" exclaimed Zell, "What's the most powerful one you guys can use?"  
  
"Ultima," said both Laguna and Clarissa at the same time, glancing at Zell who nodded.  
  
"Enough play." Adel said coldly and moved even closer, "Good-bye." she said simply and closed her eyes. They could see sparks of red coming from her fingers.  
  
"Let's do It.," said Laguna, "We've got to do it before she attacks," he looked at her fearfully, "One more blow and we'll all be down. maybe for good."  
  
Clarissa nodded. "NOW!"  
  
All three of them stepped forward at the exact same time and yelled, "ULTIMA!"  
  
Adel opened her eyes in horror, staring at the three of them. "NO!" she shrieked as she was hit with a series of explosions.  
  
A bright flash of light and a shriek of pain ended the massive explosions and Adel was left staggering, glaring down at them. "This isn't the end." She muttered defiantly, "You can't beat me that easily."  
  
With a crack like a whip being brandished, she disappeared into thin air, leaving Zell, Clarissa and Laguna standing on the street in front of the Presidential Palace, staring at each other, not knowing what to say.  
  
"Umm." started Zell, but the words simply failed him.  
  
"Oh god, I don't want to know what she's like when she's strong!" exclaimed Clarissa.  
  
"It's strange. I've never felt drained from a fight like this. 15 years ago this would have been easy!" Zell said and shook his head, "Anyway, you guys alright?"  
  
Clarissa nodded but Laguna's attention was elsewhere, he was staring down the street at a group of people huddled together and the woman that had helped him was talking like she was some sort of leader.  
  
"Laguna?" asked Zell.  
  
"Huh?" said Laguna blankly.  
  
"You ok?"  
  
"What?" Laguna said slowly then turned back to Zell who was staring at him expectantly. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."  
  
**************************************************  
  
**********  
  
A dim light bulb flickered lightly and faintly in a dark cellar that smelled of foulness and was infested with rats. Against the wall, in the shadow of the cellar was Sirus, slumped against the wall with metal cuffs around his wrists that were firmly attached to the stone wall.  
  
He opened his eyes slowly and groaned in pain, he took a deep shuddering breath and looked at his wrists for a moment and nearly gagged. The cuffs had dug in very deeply and created large gashes on the top of his forearm.  
  
He slowly took one of his hands and pushed the cuff on the other hand upwards to get it out of the cut, he nearly shouted in pain, but did the same to the other wrist, gritting his teeth together.  
  
As he tried to stand up he felt a small trickle of liquid seep down his forehead and touched it with his finger. It was blood, coming from his forehead.  
  
"Where am I?" he croaked out loud and was surprised when he got an answer back from out of the shadows.  
  
"Why does it matter?" said a harsh, drawling voice, "Its not like you're ever going to leave, anyway."  
  
Sirus squinted into the shadows across the room where the voice came from, straining to see whom it was. A tall young man stepped out of the shadows, smirking. It was Dean.  
  
"What're you doing here?" snarled Sirus, limping out on his chain as far as he could.  
  
"Just come to give you a friendly-" Dean made a swift movement and punched Sirus in the stomach, making him double over and fall to the ground, grasping for breath,  
  
"-welcome to your new home."  
  
"What do you want from me?" asked Sirus, still gasping for breath from the blow to his stomach.  
  
"Nothing-" Dean kicked Sirus in the chest making roll over, "-from you. What we want is from someone much more important."  
  
"Aurora?" Sirus's eyes widened and he got to his feet. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH AURORA!" he shouted in rage and hit Dean across the face with all the strength could use.  
  
Dean stumbled backward, hardly keeping his balance and he looked at Sirus with complete anger. "You going to pay-" he punched Sirus in the stomach again, "-for that!" then he kneed him in the chest, making him fall over again and yell in pain.  
  
Sirus stood up again, his eyes wide and glaring but Dean took his chance. "Worthless piece of-" his last word was drowned out by a strangled yell from Sirus when Dean took him up by his hair and punched in the face, making Sirus fall backward, hitting the wall.  
  
"So, this is how you fight," growled Sirus, glaring at Dean from the ground, "When I can barely fight back! No wonder Adel can control you, you're just a weak-"  
  
Sirus was silenced by another blow to the stomach and was rolled into the wall. Dean walked over to him leaned over, grabbing Sirus by his hair and pushing his head against the wall and lowering himself so that their faces were inches apart.  
  
"It's just a good thing that Adel wants you alive, otherwise I'd kill you right now." Dean said coldly.  
  
"If you don't want anything with me, then why do you want me alive?" sneered Sirus.  
  
"You're the only reason that Aurora is remaining in a conscious state." Said Dean, still grasping Sirus's hair tightly. "You see, a sorceress needs to know her knight is alive and well -" he was cut off by Sirus.  
  
"Who ever said that I was Aurora's knight?" Sirus croaked.  
  
Dean glared down at him. "You don't have to say it for it to be true," he said in disgust, "The point is that you love her. Adel sensed that. and you in your mind would give up anything for her. That makes you her knight."  
  
Dean gave Sirus another swift kick, "Idiot," he muttered.  
  
"Adel needs power. She will feed off Aurora until she's powerful enough to live on her own. That's why she needs to know you're alive. it gives her strength." Said Dean, "By the time Adel is a full power, Aurora will be dead and we'll have no more need for you."  
  
"Aurora." whispered Sirus. Dean pulled Sirus's head forward and smashed it against the wall; he was knocked out cold.  
  
"Pitiful." Said Dean, calmly and walked to the other side of the room. "Let me out, now." He said and the door opened, two guards were standing at the entrance and they closed the door again, leaving Sirus on the floor, bleeding and unconscious.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"W.Where am I?" asked Aurora in a dry, croaky voice and she opened her eyes. The room around her was dimly lit and the floor was dirty. There was a door that she could barely see across the small room that didn't have a handle on her side but she could see a faint light shining through the gap at the bottom and sides.  
  
She got up and walked to the door, but before she reached it opened and Sorceress Adel entered, looking triumphant about something. Though, she also looked extremely weakened as though she'd fought.  
  
"So. you're conscious are you?" she said in a low voice, "Good. This will make it much easier."  
  
Aurora walked slowly backwards until she hit the wall, realizing that she could no longer go backwards, so she stared ahead, into Adel's eyes, frightened, at the slowly approaching Adel.  
  
"Where's Sirus, and my mom and dad?" she asked, frightfully.  
  
"Sirus is here, he's alive. Your mother and father, are. well, I hate to break it to you, but they're dead." Said Adel in the nastiest, harshest voice that Aurora had ever heard.  
  
There was a long silence. Aurora had sunk to the floor tears coming down her cheeks. "You're lying," she finally said, in a cold and dry voice.  
  
"I'm afraid that I am not lying," said Adel, placing her large hand under Aurora's chin, "They are very well dead, m'dear." She taunted.  
  
Aurora shook her head, more tears coming.  
  
"No use in crying, that won't help." Sneered Adel, her cold eyes boring into Aurora's. "Now then, let's get on with it."  
  
"W.W-ith.w-hat?" Aurora stuttered.  
  
"I need to be recharged, of course," she said, "So, just stand still then."  
  
Aurora tried to run but Adel held her arms against the wall so that she couldn't move. Aurora closed her eyes.  
  
"P.Please. don't!"  
  
Adel said nothing and Aurora felt a sudden explosion of pain that seared through her entire body, it seemed to last forever but in reality, only really a few seconds. The pain suddenly stopped and Adel let go; Aurora fell to the floor and slowly opened her eyes.  
  
Adel seemed to be surging in power; she was glowing in red energy. Soon after, the energy flickered and was absorbed into Adel's body and she stared down at Aurora, tauntingly.  
  
"I'll be back again soon." She said and turned, as she reached the door she added, "You can count on that."  
  
Aurora lay on the floor, weak and drained of energy. "How much life do I have left?" she asked herself.  
  
She put her head down and put her arms around her knees. "They can't be dead. they just can't be. I saw them before we disappeared!" she thought, "And Sirus. Oh, I hope he's alright!"  
  
**************************************************  
  
**********  
  
Irvine and Selphie gaped at what lay in front of them. For what seemed a mile, there was a giant cave, at least 100 feet tall and extremely wide. It was covered in green, very tall and thickly bushed trees and small green houses that had several colorful flowers around them that were placed in the trees on platforms made of wood.  
  
They looked down and saw what seemed to be a very large lake or body of water that covered the entire bottom of the cave. They couldn't tell how deep it was because of how murky it was but the trees all seemed to be growing out of it.  
  
There didn't seem to be any paths leading to the houses but as they looked up they saw several long vines that were attached together, they looked like very large swings.  
  
"What is this place?" asked Selphie in awe.  
  
Just as she said that they saw some movement and suddenly they were swept off their feet. They looked around in amazement; one of the vine swings had swooped down and was swinging them forwards, towards one of the larger houses that was specked in tiny blue flower buds.  
  
The vine swing came to the platform and stopped, it somehow managed to stay long enough for them to jump off and then it swung back to the small rock platform where they were.  
  
"The gap isn't there anymore!" exclaimed Irvine, looking at the wall that was actually covered in green, the gap that they'd come through was no longer there.  
  
"I don't like this." said Selphie, beginning to become worried.  
  
"I know," said Irvine, "It's just a little too strange here."  
  
They turned around and looked at the small, shrub covered house just as the door creaked open and the most bizarre creature that they'd over seen walked out, smiling. 


	9. 17,18

Chapter XVII Tree- Swingers  
  
"So who's going with who?" asked Quistis, looking around at everyone.  
  
"I think that I vill be staying here." Said Dr. Odine, "I vill try to find out vat exactly Adel is after."  
  
"Fair enough," said Quistis, "Who will go to the Garden and who will go and find Sirus and Aurora?"  
  
Squall and Rinoa side-glanced at each other and announced at the same time, "We will go for Aurora and Sirus."  
  
"Quistis and I should definitely go back to Garden," said Seifer, "You too, Ellone" he added.  
  
"We'll go with Squall and Rinoa!" Dawn chirped in. For the first time since they'd arrived at Odine's, Dawn and Jem stood up, ready for action. "We can help!"  
  
Squall shook his head, saying "No, no. Definitely not, its far too dangerous."  
  
"But, not just you two can go, that's just as dangerous! Jem and I can really help out!" Dawn argued, "C'Mon. You know that you're going to need the help and nobody else is around."  
  
Squall sighed deeply, knowing that she was right. "Fine." he said, but very reluctantly, "Quistis, Seifer, Ellone.You should go to the Garden, but I'm not sure that they'll still be in Esthar, if they aren't, the Garden should be outside Deling City, where Laguna and Kiros are."  
  
Quistis nodded and then frowned, "Er. how are we going to get there?"  
  
Dr. Odine piped in, "You can my jet. It's just a matter of breaking into the air station and getting to it."  
  
"Thank you." Quistis said to Dr. Odine, "Will you be alright here?"  
  
"Yes, yes. Of course, I have a transmitter for my jet, if I find out anything useful about Adel then I will tell you."  
  
"Good Luck." Said Rinoa, and she hugged Quistis and Ellone, when she turned to Seifer he stared down at her.  
  
"I need to ask you something." He said in an undertone, "Over here."  
  
Rinoa nodded and turned to follow Seifer across the room, ignoring Squall's confused look yet Quistis didn't seem surprised.  
  
"What's going on with them?" he asked Quistis who seemed to be trying to listen in to what they were saying.  
  
"Oh, them!" she said, absentmindedly, "Nothing!"  
  
Squall sat back down and listened, he caught the words, "No, not now. It's not the right time!' coming from Rinoa. They seemed to come back quickly, looking rather furious about something.  
  
"Good luck, then!" said Rinoa in a slightly strange voice, and she walked quickly over to Squall and stood beside him.  
  
Quistis, Seifer and Ellone began to walk out but Quistis stopped abruptly and being in the lead, Seifer and Ellone bumped into her.  
  
"Wait guys, you don't even know where Aurora or Sirus are!" said Quistis, doubling back.  
  
"Yeah," said Squall, "That's why we've got to look!"  
  
"You should probably come back to the Garden, shouldn't you?" she asked, looking at from Squall to Rinoa then to Dawn and Jem, "I mean," she continued, "What if they aren't even in Esthar anymore, how're going to get out if we leave without you."  
  
"But-"  
  
"You can't help them if you don't know where they are, it's best to have a lead on where she is, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes, but-"  
  
"Quistis is right," said Seifer, "You guys might as well come back to the Garden with us, there's really no use looking for a pin in a haystack."  
  
"Fine." grumbled Squall, disappointed and a little angry, "I guess your right." Squall was adamant in finding Aurora and Sirus as soon as he could, and he would do anything in his power to find them.  
  
Squall, Rinoa, Dawn and Jem all rose and followed the other three out the door and they slowly walked down the pathway.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Irvine and Selphie stared at the creature, with wide eyes, that stood in front of them, the creature seemed to be smiling. It was completely green, with a long tail that had a sharp spike on the end. It stood about five feet tall, it was wearing some sort of a purple garment and it's face was extremely strange also.  
  
The grin that the creature had, stretched across it's face from ear to ear, its teeth were yellowish and sharp and it didn't seem to have a nose, but it had two very large eyes that were round and bulging with green in the center. On top of its head where green sort of hair stuck up in all directions were two more eyes but they stuck up on what looked like cords of some sort that were waving back and forth, looking around in all directions.  
  
"'O are you?" asked the creature in a high pitched voice.  
  
"We're." Irvine started, but the words didn't come out. They looked around and saw many of the same types of creatures coming from out of the trees and looking at them, all-grinning.  
  
"You are.?" asked the creature expectantly, still smiling widely.  
  
"We're. we're. humans from Balamb." said Selphie, clinging to Irvine's arm, unsure of what exactly to say to such a strange creature.  
  
"O, your from up zere!" said the creature, pointing up at the large caves roof. Irvine and Selphie assumed the creature was talking about from up above.  
  
Irvine nodded.  
  
"I see, I see!" said the creature, jumping up and down. "Welcome to our lands, ve are ze race of ze plants. Zey call us ze tree swingers up zere."  
  
"Who calls you the tree swingers?" asked Irvine, "We've never even. well, we never knew you existed."  
  
"Ze ozer creatures, the ones zat you call monsters, vell, zey call us ze tree swingers." Said the creature, "Zey do not like us very much, ve down stay down 'ere most of ze time unless ve need a plant specimen to grow more trees for us."  
  
"What is your race's real name?" asked Selphie, curiously. She was becoming very interested in the 'tree-swinging' race and wanted to find out all that she possibly could about them.  
  
"Ve do not have a formal name, ve do not believe zat ve need zat sort of 'ting. Ve are creatures of ze planet, and believe uz and ze planet are one." Said the creature, shaking its head. "But I am ze leader of ze males, I am called Ulrich."  
  
"Leader of the males?" asked Irvine.  
  
"Ve believe zat males and females should not be under ze same command, ve don not favor certain genders like you do, ve live together in 'armony."  
  
"Oh." said Selphie, "Who's the leader of the females then?"  
  
"Zat vould be Nateria," said Ulrich, "She's over zere." He pointed a long green finger to another tree where another creature with yellowish hair had stepped out and was staring at them menacingly.  
  
"She doesn't look like she want's us here." said Irvine, wondering why the female 'tree-swinger' looked much more menacing then the male, "Maybe we'd best leave you in peace."  
  
"Don't vorry about 'er," said Ulrich, waving a hand impatiently, "She's tough to please!"  
  
"But we don't want-" started Irvine but Ulrich grabbed their arms and began to pull them forwards into the small tree house behind them. "Come, 'ave some food! You looked starved!" he said.  
  
Irvine and Selphie decided not to argue and they followed him inside.  
  
The small house was made of what looked to be tree bark that was tied together using the long vines that Irvine and Selphie had seen earlier. The floor was covered in large leaves that lay flat from walking on it. A small bed made of tree bark and covered in a giant leaf (Probably used for a blanket, they assumed) sat in the far-left corner and had vine hangings all around it.  
  
To the right was a large and tall basin that reached up to their chests and it was filled with clear water. Next to it was a small fireplace surrounded in large stones; the bottom had a large and flat stone covering the wood floor.  
  
"I 'ave not seen your 'ouses up zere but I imagine zat zis is very small to you." Said Ulrich.  
  
"It's cozy!" exclaimed Selphie, looking around with a small smile, "I always love houses that are cozy!" she wrapped her arms around her self and for a moment, rocked from side to side, making Irvine give her a funny look. Ulrich seemed to think that Selphie was funny, and giggled.  
  
"So how long have your kind been here?" asked Irvine, now ignoring Selphie, who was walking around, looking at things, "How come we've never heard of you, or seem you before?"  
  
Ulrich pulled out two puffy plant type mushrooms that he gestured for Irvine and Selphie to sit on. "Ve 'ave been 'ere since ze beginning of life." Said Ulrich in his high-pitched voice as he busied himself with a fire that seemed to light pretty quick. "Ve only stay 'ere though, ve vere banished from up zere."  
  
"You were banished?" Selphie said, bewildered, "But why?" Though trying to be serious, Selphie couldn't help giggling at how much she sank into the plant type mushroom chairs; they were unbelievably comfortable.  
  
"Long ago ze 'umans found us and zey vere afraid of us." Said Ulrich, shuffling over to another place on the floor that he pulled open and they several plants of different kinds that Irvine and Selphie had never seen before.  
  
"Ze 'umans chased us avay and ve vere forced to live vere zey could not find us," Ulrich continued while pulling out some plants and placing them on a stone in the fire. "Ze old people of our kind found a small cave, zey vere ze only ones left after ze battle between ze 'umans and us. Zey expanded on ze cave and ever since ve 'ave been living 'ere in 'armony together."  
  
Both Irvine and Selphie shifted uncomfortably, "Do you kind still feel hatred towards us?" asked Selphie.  
  
"Vell, yes and no. ve do not believe in 'olding grudges against anyone." Said Ulrich, placing the cooked plants on two stone platters and handing them to Irvine and Selphie with stone pieces to eat the plants with.  
  
"I vill not say, 'owever, zat some of us do not 'old grudges against ozers." Ulrich said, sitting on his small bed and looking at them with all four eyes, "I know zat Nateria vill 'old a grudge against the 'umans. She does not understand vhy ve vere banished, she vants to see ze vorld but ve von't let 'er. It vill be too dangerous for 'er."  
  
"I wonder why we've never head of you before though, I mean." said Irvine, eating some cooked plants, ". if our kind really did banish you then why don't they tell us that you exist?"  
  
"Why won't you let Nateria up there though?" asked Selphie, completely ignoring Irvine's wondering. "There's no humans in the forest, only the monsters."  
  
"If ve vere seen zen it vould bring back all ze war and all ze death to our kind!" exclaimed Ulrich, "You 'ave not 'eard of us before, I think, because you 'umans think zat our kind vas gone. Your kind nearly made our race extinct! There are not many of uz 'ere, ve used to be of great numbers."  
  
Irvine shook his head, "I can't say how ashamed both of us," he glanced at Selphie who was also shaking her head, ". how both us fell right now! I'd never heard of anything so barbaric and terrible as another race being banished from our planet, being told they cannot live!"  
  
"It is not your fault," said Ulrich, waving the matter aside, "I know zat it vas a long time ago and 'umans were just learning of zis planet. Our kind vatched you grow and evolve into 'umans, many of our kind did not vant to let your kind live, but zey argued and in the end your kind thrived and ended up taking over zis planet. I suppose zat zere isn't enough room for two races!"  
  
Irvine and Selphie finished their cooked plants in silence, marveling over the amazing taste that filled their mouths and that made them even more tired then they were. Ulrich seemed to notice this and stood up.  
  
"Come, follow me and I vill show you an empty 'ouse zat you can use for resting." He said, going out the door. They followed him out onto the platform and watched as he swung out  
  
Chapter XVIII.....................The Roknarag  
  
"We've got to stay low!" exclaimed Quistis who was in the lead as they walked down the path out of Dr. Odine's office out onto the street, all crouching.  
  
"I'm crouching as low as I can walk!" said Rinoa angrily.  
  
They travelled slowly along the street, out of view of any guards on the streets nearby, luckily they hadn't run into any on the street they walked along. The sun was now high in the sky, they'd been in Dr. Odine's office longer then they'd thought and now it was nearing at least one o'clock.  
  
"We're almost there," said Quistis, as they reached a turning point in the road that lead down another road where the Esthar Airstation was. "Now this is the tricky part," she looked back at everyone, "We've got to go down there without being seen." She pointed down the road.  
  
"Now, we'll go two at a time, but one of us has to go alone, that'll be me." She said, turning back to face the road, "I'll go first and wave on the next two which will be Seifer and Ellone, then I want Dawn and Jem to go and Squall and Rinoa will follow last."  
  
Everyone nodded and they switched places so that they were in the right order and then looked at Quistis again. "Ready?" she asked, they all nodded, "Alright, I'm going."  
  
Quistis stood up slightly and ran as fast as she could down the side of the road, looking straight ahead until she got to the building at the end and she looked around warily then from a distance, they saw her wave on Seifer and Ellone.  
  
They ran slightly slower then the speed that Quistis went down the path, but still considerably quick and they got there safely. Next, Dawn and Jem were waved on and they went running down the path to where the others were.  
  
Squall and Rinoa moved up to the edge of the road but they saw no wave, they could see the group of them in the shadows but not enough to make out what they were doing. "What's the hold up?" asked Rinoa.  
  
Squall shook his head, "I'm not sure." he whispered and continued staring down the road to see Quistis waving them on but nothing happened.  
  
"You don't think.they were seen, do you?" said Rinoa.  
  
Squall hushed her and turned around. "They weren't seen, I don't think." He whispered then turned back to look down the road.  
  
"I wonder what's going on, I mean. did they forgot we were here?" asked Rinoa, but she quickly stopped talking when Squall gave her a funny look, raising his eyebrows as though to ask, 'what the hell are you talking about.'. "They didn't forget." he said finally.  
  
"I know but." Rinoa trailed off.  
  
"Let's run for it." said Squall, turning back to Rinoa.  
  
"What, we don't even know if its safe yet!" Rinoa exclaimed.  
  
"Well, we don't know if their safe either," Squall said and he rose into a low running position, "Are you coming or not?"  
  
Before Rinoa had the chance to say anything Squall was up and running down the road towards the air station. Rinoa got up and ran after him, muttering under her breath, "What an idiot."  
  
Squall, who was running about twenty feet ahead of Rinoa, stared down the road to see if they were still there but it was too dark in the shadows for him to see, but he had been running so fast that he was nearly there.  
  
Rinoa looked around and nearly fell over her own feet when she saw three Esthar soldiers on the road opposite that they were on running after them and they seemed to be loading guns. "Squall, watch out!" she called in warning.  
  
Squall looked back and saw the soldiers and instead of running forwards he stopped dead and waited for Rinoa to pass before running again. As they reached the air station doors they heard gunshots and when they looked beside them they saw the rest of the group huddled in the corner, Quistis in the front.  
  
"C'mon!" said Quistis, pointing at the door, "We've got to get out of here!"  
  
Quistis ran to the door and with a great pull she opened it and let them all inside before closing it again and locking it.  
  
"Why didn't you wait for the signal?" she demanded angrily, looking at Squall and Rinoa.  
  
Rinoa shrugged and looked at Squall, who was looking slightly abashed, "We thought that you were in danger or something. I never thought that we might have been the ones in danger." he said.  
  
"Obviously not." Said Quistis and stepped passed Squall, looking around the large hanger that they stood in. "Odine's aircraft is over there, beside the big red one. that's where he told me it was."  
  
They walked towards the large red ship and looked beside it where there was a smaller blue one that looked unbelievably like a small Ragnarok. They looked around for a moment, there was no ceiling, and they could see the afternoon sky clearly through the open roof.  
  
"Who's flying?" Dawn asked, startling many of them because she hadn't talked in so long, "I.I could fly if you don't mind, I mean, if none of you can fly."  
  
"Actually," said Rinoa, "Selphie." she paused after saying Selphie's name, closing her eyes in grimace for a second and then, finally, she continued, "She used to fly the Ragnarok. I don't think that any of us ever did fly."  
  
Squall nodded in agreement and looked at Quistis who seemed to be considering the matter, "Alright, Dawn, you can fly it. None of us can, anyway." she looked around at everyone.  
  
"You can count on me!" Dawn said, smiling and doing a SeeD salute, though, not exactly right. She turned and got on the blue aircraft first, not seeing the funny look the Quistis gave her after the SeeD salute she tried to give.  
  
"This looks so much like the Ragnarok." said Rinoa as they got inside and up to the pilots deck, "Everything about it. The only difference is that it's smaller."  
  
"It was probably modeled from the Ragnarok, same design." Said Seifer, playing with a switch as Dawn jumped into the pilot's seat.  
  
"Wow, so many buttons." Dawn said in amazement, looking as though she were in some sort of pilots heaven, with a wide smile on her face. Flying seemed to give Dawn some sort of rush.  
  
"Can you handle this thing?" Jem asked her, leaning on the back of the driver's seat.  
  
"Of course I can!" Dawn said, almost angrily, looking around at him and glaring. "You DO remember my dive in the Airstrike jet, don't you?"  
  
"Don't take a fit," said Jem defensively, "I was just asking you a question!" He smirked and in an undertone, said, "And after the dive, we crashed."  
  
Seifer caught it and started laughing, but was stopped by a sharp look from Rinoa and Quistis. Luckily nobody caught Squall's snicker.  
  
Dawn flicked a switch that made the shutter that went of the large window open. "Wow." She then flicked another switch that made them all feel a large jolt, the aircraft had started.  
  
"Hey," said Rinoa, looking at a sticker on the control panel, "This thing is called a Roknarag!"  
  
"Time to get the hell out of this city!" Dawn said excitedly and pulled on the steering rod. The Roknarag rose out of the air station just as the lock on the door was broken open, suddenly, and several soldiers came piling in.  
  
"See ya later, suckers!" Jem said, doing a small salute and the Roknarag soared over the vast Esthar City and out towards the ocean, towards Balamb Garden.  
  
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The sun had risen and it was early morning, fires were burning on some of the houses, people were screaming, running and fighting.  
  
"We should get back to Caraway's mansion." Suggested Zell, looking around at the still rioting people of Deling City.  
  
"Your right," agreed Clarissa, also looking around the streets. "C'mon, Laguna.. Where's Laguna?"  
  
Laguna was walking to where a small group of people was sitting huddled together, that all looked to be very young, maybe severnteen years old at the most. In front of them was the woman that Clarissa and Zell recognized as the one that Laguna had helped and who had returned his favor by helping him too.  
  
"LAGUNA!" Zell exclaimed and both Zell and Clarissa ran after Laguna, catching up to him quickly. "What are you doing?" Zell demanded.  
  
"I'm. I'm going to help them out." Laguna said, looking over Zell's shoulder to look at the group, or what Zell suspected, look at the woman.  
  
"We need to get back to President Landers, now!" Clarissa urged, "C'mon." She pulled on Laguna's shirt but he stood there stubbornly.  
  
"N.No, you guys go. I'll, uh, be right there." Laguna said and pushed past them, walking towards the small group.  
  
"Oh, but."  
  
"Give it up. He's not going to come." said Zell, "Let's go."  
  
Zell and Clarissa headed off in the direction of Caraway's Mansion, stopping occasionally to put an end to small riots and to tell people that Deling City was safe again, that Adel was gone.  
  
They walked up the pathway of Caraway's mansion just as Landers and Caraway were stepping out of the house. "Ah," said Landers, clapping his hands together, "So, your back. I was just talking to General Caraway here and-" he looked around, "Where's Loire?"  
  
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"Umm, hello." said Laguna to the woman who had just told the small group to go somewhere that Laguna didn't quite hear. It sounded something like a bar.  
  
"Hello," said the woman, giving Laguna a smile that made his heart melt and his legs weak. She looked at him expectantly.  
  
"I, uh, was wondering, uh, who are you?" he said bashfully, staring at her in her brilliant blue eyes that gleamed in the light.  
  
"Oh, I'm Alexandra Wrelaway," she said, holding out her hand for Laguna to shake, "But people call me Lexi," she added.  
  
"Thanks for what you did back there," Laguna smiled, shaking her hand making his knees even more weak, "You really helped me out."  
  
"Well," she said, returning Laguna's smile, "If it hadn't been for you then I wouldn't have been there to help you. I was just returning the favor, er. sorry, what's your name?"  
  
"Oh! Sorry, my name is Laguna."  
  
"D'you have a last name, Laguna?" she smiled again.  
  
"Umm, yeah, Laguna Loire."  
  
"Laguna Loire!" her eyes widened and her smile faded, "You mean President Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, Laguna Loire!"  
  
"Umm, yeah."  
  
"Wow," her eyes were still wide, "What are you doing fighting Adel? And why would you fight even think of fighting her in the first place? What are you doing in Galbadia, let alone, Deling City?"  
  
"You sure do ask a lot of questions," replied Laguna, "And the answers to all those questions are well. it's a long story."  
  
"I have time," she said.  
  
"What are you doing here anyway?" Laguna asked suddenly, "Why were you leading that group of people?"  
  
"Well, I own the bar. the one beside the hotel here, you see."  
  
Laguna nodded as she continued.  
  
".and there were these teenagers that were staying in the hotel there that had lost one of their friends and they were worried. I told them that they needed to look for their friend and that I'd help them, so I told them to head to the bar and wait for me there."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Yeah," she said, "I'd really like to listen to what your story is but. well, I'd better get back." she turned away and began to walk away but Laguna ran after her.  
  
"I'll come too."  
  
"Shouldn't you get back to. where are you supposed to be?" she asked, frowning.  
  
"No, I can come. I'll explain what's going on, on the way there." He followed Lexi to the bar, explaining all about what was going on. 


	10. 19,20

AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
Thanks! It's great that you liked the tree swingers, though, they were fun too write. Anyway, more of the story now.  
  
Chapter XIX The Next Course of Action  
  
"Laguna's. well. Laguna is, er, preoccupied." said Zell, looking at Clarissa hesitantly and then back to Landers and Caraway who were looking at them, expecting an answer.  
  
"Preoccupied? What do you mean by that?" asked Landers, raising and eyebrow.  
  
"Er. never mind that, umm-"  
  
"What? Don't talk to me that-"  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be with the ground crew, anyway?" Clarissa intervened in their conversation. "Where's Kiros?"  
  
"By the time we got the ground crew together, the Estharian army was drawing back and they left." Said Caraway, his arms folded firmly in front of his chest, "Kiros is with the air fleet at the moment, they're still on stand-by in case the army makes another move."  
  
"I see," said Zell, "I think we should notify the Garden. Clarissa and I will be heading back." He took a step backwards and turned around, Clarissa following suit but stopped when Landers started talking again.  
  
"But what about Loire?" he asked, urgently, "We need to sort out matters, immediately. Where is he?"  
  
Zell shrugged, "I've no idea where he is, the last time we saw him we had just finished fighting Adel and-"  
  
"You fought Adel?" Landers's eyes widened, "How come I was not informed of this? I never sent anyone after Adel, and what happened?"  
  
Zell took another small step back, Landers seemed to be getting angry and the last thing that him and Clarissa needed was to be thrown in a Galbadian prison somewhere for defying orders of the president.  
  
"Explain!" Landers demanded, taking a step forward causing Zell to take one more step back. "Fine. Guards!"  
  
Four guards nearby came and grabbed their arms, stopping them from any immediate way of escaping without harming anyone. "Now, I'm going to ask one more time. Explain."  
  
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Adel stood tall, staring out the giant window that covered an entire wall in the office of Laguna Loire. In the shadows of the far side of the room stood Dean, smirking. Anger was boiling inside Adel as she saw an aircraft take off from the air station and when the doors to the office burst open she turned in fury to see who it was.  
  
"My.My s-s-s-orceress." said an Esthar soldier, shaking with obvious fear of her. "I-I have c-c-come to r-r-report on the c-c-current s-s-status of Esthar."  
  
"Yes?" boomed Adel, moving slowly towards the cowering soldier, smirking at his growing fear. She seemed to billow in the fact that people cowered beneath her; it made her happy.  
  
"W-w-we still have E-e-esthar in our grasp, however, s-s-several people h-h- have escaped in an aircraft." he stuttered, taking a slow step backwards.  
  
"HOW MANY?" Adel raged, wiping aside a chair that was in front of her.  
  
"S-s-s-seven."  
  
"WHY DID YOU INSOLENT FOOLS NOT STOP THEM? WHO WERE THEY?"  
  
"W-w-we tried, my sorceress, but t-t-they escaped." He said, backing into the door. "T-t-they were the i-i-intruders."  
  
"THEM!" Adel roared with rage and with a great roar of anger she picked up the shaking soldier that was now yelling and threw him at the window, causing it the shatter as the soldier flew out of it.  
  
"Dean," said Adel now eerily calm voice as she floated back to the now shattered window, "Please call someone here to fix this." She gestured at the window.  
  
Dean stepped out of the shadows and opened the door. He murmured something to a soldier outside who ran off after Dean was done speaking, and then Dean closed the door and turned to face Adel.  
  
"What now?" he asked, calmly with a smirk crossing his face, hoping it was something interesting.  
  
"I do not know." Adel whispered, turning to face Dean, "I am thinking that we should take Garden. They are the reason we cannot move forward."  
  
"Which garden shall we take over first?" Dean asked, "Balamb is well guarded, so is Galbadia but Trabia is way off in the north, nobody should think that we would take that."  
  
"Good thinking. good thinking." Adel said, smirking. "We will take Trabia, today. Send an air fleet first to scout out the area and then send the ground and the ocean fleet. After we take Trabia I want to be prepared to move to Galbadia. Move the prisoners to the Esthar ship, we cannot leave them here."  
  
Dean nodded and moved noiselessly across the room and out the door while Adel moved closer to the window, where cool air blew in her face. "Now, I will get what I want. Now I receive what I deserve. I will get that crystal."  
  
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Dim light came through the small cracks in the walls of Irvine and Selphies small hut, in the distance they could hear chopping and a lot of speaking and excitement.  
  
"Sounds like morning to me." Said Selphie, drowsily after a good night's sleep. She yawned widely and got up from the bed and moved towards the door. "What do you think that they're doing out there?"  
  
"I don't know, just go back to bed!" said Irvine, rolling over and covering himself with the fuzzy and leafy blanket, it was surprisingly warm and comfortable.  
  
"No way!" said Selphie, vehemently, "I wanna see what's going on, hurry and get up!"  
  
Irvine rolled over and groaned. "Come on, Sefie, its too early!"  
  
Selphie turned right around and glared at Irvine, "COME ON!" she demanded and walked swiftly to the bed and pulled the covers off and from under Irvine which caused him to roll right off the bed with a loud thump on the floor.  
  
"Ouch," he exclaimed, pulling him self up, "What'd you do that for?"  
  
"Well, it got you out of bed, didn't it!" she said proudly and helped him up.  
  
Irvine changed into his regular clothes and slipped on his cowboy hat and walked over to Selphie who had just changed. "Happy?" he asked.  
  
"Of course," she said, placing her hand on the door handle and pulling, "Now let's go!"  
  
They stepped through the door and looked around the large cave in amazement. Many of the creatures, the tree-swingers, were perched on the treetops and were chopping away at the wood with their bladed tails.  
  
Others were swinging back and forth to carry the wood and placing it in homes throughout the caves. They even caught glimpses of a few smaller tree- swingers that looked like children, swinging around tossing what looked like a large wooden ball.  
  
"'Ello!" came a familiar high-pitched voice, happily, ""Ow are our guests today?" Ulrich had come swinging from one of the nearby trees to greet them.  
  
"We're great!" exclaimed Selphie, "What's going on?"  
  
"Zat iz juzt ze vood and food collection for ze veek." Said Ulrich, looking around and then back to them, "Vould you like to 'ave some food?"  
  
Just as Ulrich had said that Irvine's stomach made a loud rumbling noise, "Vat vas zat?" asked Ulrich, tilting his head as he looked at Irvine.  
  
"Oh," said Irvine off guard, "That was just my stomach, its telling me that I'm hungry."  
  
"I see." Ulrich nodded, "Vould you like to come to my 'ut?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Ulrich took the large vine and swung across with much ease and then he threw the vine back to their hut and walked inside his own. "I'm still not used to this at all!" said Selphie, taking the vine in her hand and getting ready to swing.  
  
She did a small leap and flew across the gap to Ulrich's hut and threw the vine back to Irvine, "But it's getting easier!" she called and walked into Ulrich's hut.  
  
"Not for me, though." Irvine sighed and took the vine, "Geronimo!" he swung across the large gap and landed on the other side, "Hmm." he said in an impressed tone that he'd landed better then the last time he'd tried, and he walked into Ulrich's hut to join them.  
  
He sat down next to Selphie on the small bed as Ulrich was busying himself with a small fire and cooking the same type of plant that they'd had the previous day.  
  
"So, I 'ave talked to Nateria last night. She agreed zat she vould listen to your story az long az it 'as a full 'istory and everything." Ulrich explained.  
  
"You mean how we got here?" Irvine asked, "Or what?"  
  
"Vell, zat. and also ze story of vhy you vere over zese lands." Ulrich replied, "It iz a mystery to us vhy you vould be 'ere."  
  
"That could take a really long time though." Selphie said, looking at the plants that Ulrich had just set in front of her in and Irvine.  
  
"Ve 'ave time." Said a voice from the hut door, "Ve vant ze 'hole story." Nateria was standing at the door, looking somewhat furious about something.  
  
"Oh, 'ere is Nateria now!" said Ulrich, clapping his hands together, "Nateria, meet. er, vat are your names?"  
  
"Oh," said Selphie, her eyes widening, and feeling a little guilty, "We never told you?"  
  
"You may 'ave, but I 'ave a very bad memory." Said Ulrich, smiling.  
  
"Oh, well, I'm Selphie and this is Irvine." Selphie said and stood up to greet Nateria, "Hello, Nateria."  
  
Nateria looked at Selphie's hand with much revulsion and she simply walked past Selphie and sat on the ground near the fire, feeling rejected, and staring at both of them expectantly.  
  
"Now, now, Nateria. No need to be like zat." Said Ulrich, his smile fading.  
  
"Let's get on vith it, vat is your story?" Nateria demanded.  
  
Irvine sighed and looked at Selphie and they nodded, "Well." they began their story starting with the Time Compression fifteen years earlier.  
  
Chapter XX A Long Kept Secret  
  
"So," said Lexi, staring at Laguna, "What you're saying is that this.this sorceress, Adel, she's taken over Esthar, and now she's trying to take over Galbadia?" she asked, after Laguna had explained everything about why he was there.  
  
"Yeah, she has and yes, she is trying to take over Galbadia.we think." replied Laguna, staring at Lexi, trying to figure out what exactly was so different about her that made him feel funny.  
  
"You think?" she asked.  
  
"Yes. well," Laguna said, sitting across from her on a bench in the deserted bar, "It's hard to tell what exactly she's after."  
  
"But you say that your grand-daughter, this Aurora, has been taken. that Adel has her?" Lexi sat down next to Laguna.  
  
"Well, we thought that Adel had taken over her body," Laguna explained, "But tonight. well, that wasn't Aurora at all. I don't know what's going on."  
  
Lexi nodded but didn't say anything; she was lost for words. Finally, she said, "You should go back to General Caraway's mansion."  
  
Laguna looked around at her, "You should come too, it's not safe here. We don't know if Adel is gone or not."  
  
"I can't." Lexi shook her head.  
  
"Yes you can, come on!" Laguna pulled her arm and they left the deserted bar, after Lexi had told the group of teens where they should stay (the hotel).  
  
Sirus opened his eyes, the light was dim around him and the floor seemed to be rocking back and forth. He stood up and tried to walk but the floor gave a funny jolt and he fell over.  
  
He looked around the small room that he was in. It wasn't the same room that he'd last remembered, this room was different and there was a window. a window filled with water.  
  
"That can't be right." he mumbled. He walked over to the window and looked outside of it, it was thick glass and as he'd saw, it was completely submerged in water. He was under water.  
  
The floor gave another funny jolt and he nearly fell over, and realized where he was. "I'm on a boat!" he said out loud. He felt the back of his head, it was bleeding a bit from falling to the floor in the last cell that he was in when Dean had hit him.  
  
Sirus sat down on the hard floor and put his head in his hands, "I've got to get out of here. I wonder if Aurora's here?" he whispered but held his breath as he heard voices. He edged to the door and put his ear up against it so that he could hear well.  
  
"This one was out cold when I last checked. What about the girl?" Said one of the voices.  
  
"The girl is awake, but barely." Said a second voice.  
  
"Good," said the first voice. "I'll go up on deck, you stay here and guard the doors. Check on the boy; make sure he's still unconscious. If not, then make him unconscious."  
  
Sirus heard the owner of the first voice's feet walk away and heard his door unlocking. He ran to the other side of the room, noiselessly, and he laid face down and shut his eyes, pretending that he was unconscious.  
  
He heard the door open and then footsteps approaching him. He held his breath as the guard bent down and chuckled a bit, "Sleeping like a baby!" he taunted and he stood up.  
  
Sirus opened his eyes, now was his chance. He stood up in a flash and put his hand over the guard's mouth that was now turned around and was walking out. The guard struggled and Sirus choked him, eventually making him faint from lack of air.  
  
Sirus let the guard fall to the floor. He ran to the door and closed it, quickly traded outfits with the guard so that it would be easier for him to move around, and he left the room, locking it behind him.  
  
"We are nearly there." The captain of the ship informed Adel who was standing behind him, a smug look on her face.  
  
"Good," said Adel, looking through the large window that was in front of them, into the close distance at the oncoming land. They could see the outline of the large Trabian Garden that stood in the center of a U shaped mountain range.  
  
"Order the air fleet in, they are to make the first attack." Adel demanded, and immediately the captain took up the radio and called to the air fleet. Within minutes they heard the jet's coming from behind them, and towards Trabia Garden.  
  
The captain ordered the fleet to remain on stand-by while their ground army landed and traveled to the Garden, then they were to start the first attack. The air attack.  
  
"Come in Balamb Garden! Come in Balamb Garden! This is a state of emergency!" said a voice from the COM system, grabbing Nida's attention.  
  
"Come in Balamb Garden!" said the voice again, in a panicked tone. Nida picked up the microphone and turned it on so that he could speak.  
  
"Balamb Garden here, what is it? And who is it?" he asked clearly.  
  
"It's Trabia Garden. we don't have much time!" just as the voice said that, the connection began to break up and it was harder to hear.  
  
"We are.. Attack.. Esthar. air crew and army!" Nida only caught those words from the fuzz and didn't understand.  
  
"You're attacked? What?" he asked, the connection grew weaker, "Come in Trabia, come in!" he said, "COME IN TRABIA!" the connection was completely lost and Nida was dumbstruck.  
  
For a moment he stood there with his mouth hanging open slightly, and staring into the distance of Deling City, hardly noticing an oncoming aircraft that was going to land. It looked much like the Ragnarok only smaller and blue.  
  
Finally he slipped out of his trance and studied the oncoming aircraft. "Who's that?" he wondered and left the pilot's deck. He went to the air craft platform and stood, waiting for it to land, his hand placed at his side where he placed an emergency pistol if needed.  
  
The small aircraft landed, Nida saw the name. It was Roknarag. He watched as the crate holder opened and light flooded out onto the darkened platform and out walked seven figures. Figures that he recognized.  
  
"Headmistress! And Headmaster! Squall, Rinoa!" he said and ran to them, and looked around at the others, smiling suddenly. "I thought. you." he sputtered.  
  
"You thought we were in Esthar?" Quistis said.  
  
"Well, yeah!"  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you Nida, but we aren't that easily stuck!" said Seifer, smiling deviously.  
  
"But how did you get out? Isn't Esthar under Adel's control? What happened? Where's Sirus?" Nida flooded them with questions and Quistis put her hand up in the air.  
  
"We'll explain when we get back to my office. It seems you have a lot to tell us too." she said.  
  
Nida looked around at the rest of them and nearly gave a start when he saw Jem and Dawn standing in the back, smiling at his surprise.  
  
"Dawn! Jem!" he exclaimed, "But. how. you crashed. I saw you dive. you dived into Esthar."  
  
"Who couldn't survive my perfect landing's? I'm an expert!" Dawn said, twisting her foot and smiling.  
  
"It was pure luck." Jem whispered to Nida, smirking, but unfortunately Dawn heard and gave Jem a shift kick in the shin. He hopped up and down and Dawn returned to her innocent smile.  
  
"Come on," said Seifer, "Let's go to our office. I have to say, I never thought I'd be so glad to be back here!"  
  
"So, you mean you still haven't received word of Selphie and Irvine?" Rinoa asked Nida, anxiously. She sat next the Squall, across from Quistis and Seifer. Nida sat in an armchair nearby.  
  
They had just finished telling each other all that had happened since they departed before the battle of Esthar. Dawn and Jem retired to the dorms to sleep, and Ellone also left but she went to the library.  
  
"No," said Nida, shaking his head sadly, "We haven't."  
  
Squalls looked around at them all and then back down at his own feet, shaking his head. He'd hardly believed that they could have just been gone until that point and still, he refused to believe it. "There's no way." he whispered.  
  
Rinoa silently agreed but said nothing; her throat was closed off. Finally, after the long and sad silence, someone finally was able to speak out.  
  
"We need to look for them, don't we?" Quistis asked, uneasily.  
  
"Of course we do, but we do have other things on our hands. like Adel. Besides, if they are alive, then they know how to survive, they have skills when it comes to things like this. I remember you telling me that Selphie, Irvine and Zell all hid in a machine while being bombed by missiles about fifteen years ago." Seifer said, looking around at everyone.  
  
Rinoa smirked for a second, and then quickly said, "Yes, and we need to find Aurora and Sirus, they're probably in the most danger." She thought about what might be happening to them and shuddered, wishing she were there to help her them.  
  
"But if Irvine and Selphie are alive, what if they're just stuck in that forest, and they need our help!" Quistis argued, causing Seifer to scowl at her.  
  
At once, Quistis, Rinoa and Seifer began having a furious argument. Squall sat silently for a moment; he closed his eyes and lay his head back. "I've had enough." he whispered.  
  
To everyone's surprise Squall stood up and walked away. He got onto the elevator, carefully not meeting anyone's eyes and went down. The room was silent as they all watched him leave.  
  
Rinoa began to walk away, but Quistis grabbed her arm swiftly, "We might as well leave him be, he'll be better off."  
  
Rinoa turned around and looked Quistis straight in the eyes. Anger boiled inside and she said coldly, "I think I know my husband better then some woman who has had a secret love for him since she was a teenager."  
  
Quistis let go of Rinoa's arm and stepped back, looking hurt. "I was just trying to help." she whispered.  
  
"Yeah well, your help doesn't always cure everything, you know!?" Rinoa snapped and stormed off, going down the elevator in a furious rage.  
  
Quistis looked at Seifer, her eyes wide and her lips in a frown. "This is too much." she said.  
  
"I'll go after them and I'll try to calm Rinoa down." Seifer said, "You should stay here and try to sort things out with Nida. We need to take action, soon. And you're the only one that seems to have a reality grasp on things around here."  
  
Quistis nodded and sat back down. Seifer left and went after Rinoa. He finally caught up with her after going down the elevator and running to the area around the training center where she was sitting on a bench, her arms crossed and her foot was waving up and down.  
  
"Rinoa?" he asked cautiously.  
  
"What?" she snapped.  
  
Seifer walked over to her and sat beside her, looking at her sadly, "Look," he said, "I know that this is hard for you. and for Squall. but there's no need to act like this."  
  
"What would you know about it?" she said harshly, not looking at him.  
  
"I'm not going to lie; I don't know what your going through here, what with losing your daughter. or should I say." he started but Rinoa looked at him suddenly, her voice turning different, calmer and softer but urgent.  
  
"Don't say it." she whispered.  
  
"Our daughter." he said out loud.  
  
"Seifer!" she hissed.  
  
Seifer looked down for a moment and then back up. "It's not going to help if you don't face the truth. You may not want to think that I am her biological father. but I am. And this is affecting me. You have no idea how much instincts kick in when your child is in danger."  
  
"Yes I do!" she said angrily, "She is my daughter you know, not just yours. and actually, she isn't yours at all. She's Squall's and mine. Squall is her father, he always has been, just because he's not the biological father, that doesn't mean that he isn't her true father, he's the one who I married and love!"  
  
"I know that," he said, "And Squall always will be her father, but you don't know how much this is affecting me. It's affecting me more then you think it would, and Squall's going to start wondering things soon, I'm surprised he hasn't already."  
  
"If you'd quit taking me aside for private talks maybe he wouldn't think anything, he doesn't need to know. It would only hurt him to know. and that's the last thing he needs right now." Rinoa said.  
  
"But he's going to need to know some day, I think that you should tell him. it would be better." Seifer said.  
  
"How? How would it be better? What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She said softly.  
  
"It would be better for your marriage. I can see it already, you've been hiding it too long, for 15 years. Ever since you were pregnant, and you knew it was mine, you kept it a secret. It's been eating at you all these years. if you don't tell him, your marriage bonds will grow weak and that's the last thing I want to happen to you two," Seifer explained, "You need to be strong right now, and so do I. That's why I've told Quistis."  
  
"You told her?" Rinoa began to get angry again.  
  
"I don't keep anything from her. I told her a long time ago." He said.  
  
Rinoa looked at the ground; a few tears came down her cheeks. "Why does this have to happen?" she asked. "Why? Why was our house destroyed? Why did Adel have to come back, why did she take over Aurora after we thought she'd died again. and why couldn't we save Aurora when we had the chance!"  
  
Seifer embraced Rinoa in a hug, she began to weep and her weeping turned to crying. "Why?" she whispered again.  
  
"There's no explanation for why," Seifer said softly, "But there's still a chance. we still have time to save her."  
  
Rinoa shook her head.  
  
"We do. believe me. She's going to be fine." He said, yet there was doubt in his mind, "Listen." He said and Rinoa sat up straight, looking at him, "You should go to your room and sleep. You'll feel better tomorrow, and try to help Squall. he's in a lot of pain too. I could see that when he left."  
  
Rinoa nodded and stood up, "Thank you." she whispered and began to walk away, "And." she said, turning around, "Tell Quistis that I'm coming to see her tomorrow. I need to apologize for what I said, I didn't mean it. I just.." She trailed off and turned away.  
  
Seifer nodded and walked as she walked to the dormitory and disappeared down the walkway. He stood up and walked back to the elevator to go back upstairs.  
  
As Seifer left there was a movement in the shadows nearby. From the plants by the training center, near the bench, out walked Squall. His mouth gaping and anger boiling inside, "But how.?" he asked himself, "How could Seifer be Aurora's father. it can't be true, can it?" 


	11. 21,22

Chapter XXI A Call for Help  
  
Squall stood in front of the bench, staring at it absentmindedly. His mind raced with thoughts and emotions. After a long while he finally stopped staring and looked around; the Garden was silent and calm. There wasn't a sole in sight.  
  
He began walking, hearing his footsteps patter along the shiny floor. He walked to the dormitories and went immediately to his and Rinoa's room, where Rinoa was. He reached the door and placed his hand on the door handle, stopping to think.  
  
"I've got o cool off. There's no sense in confronting her about this." he thought but the anger inside of him still boiled and he didn't think that he'd be able to contain it.  
  
"Why am I the one to worry about this, its Rinoa who should care." He thought, "She's kept this from me for fifteen years. And all along I've been thinking that I'm Aurora's father when it's really Seifer."  
  
Just thinking about Seifer made Squall nearly explode. He'd trusted him, he befriended him after all that had happened previous of the time compression. and now this is found out.  
  
Squall did some more quick thinking and decided that he'd better he might as well face the facts; he needed to speak with Rinoa about all of this. He took a deep breath and opened the door, closing it with a soft click.  
  
Rinoa was lying in bed already, and she stirred when Squall came in. She opened her eyes and then sat up, "Where were you?" she asked, her voice sleepy.  
  
Squall didn't say anything, he went to the corner of the room and sat down in a large armchair, then looked at Rinoa straight in her eyes but remained silent for a moment while she asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
For a moment more, he still said nothing but when Rinoa began to get up and walk over to him; he spoke, making her stop dead and sit down on the end of the bed. "How did it happen?" he asked simply.  
  
Rinoa stared at him, "What are talking about? What do you mean, 'how did it happen?'" she asked, although, her voice was unusually shaky.  
  
Squall's eyes bored into hers, and she stared right back. The room was dead silent other then their soft breathing and the soft note of crickets from outside that echoed through the Garden.  
  
"How did it happen?" Squall asked again, his voice low and calm.  
  
Rinoa looked at him blankly, she had no idea what he meant. or at least she hoped that she had no idea what he meant. "Squall. I really don't understand what you're talking about. If you'd just-"  
  
"How did Seifer end up being Aurora's father?" Squall raised his voice, and his eyes flashed with anger and sadness at the same time. He was surprised that he didn't explode right then and there.  
  
Rinoa looked at the ground; this is what she had feared. Squall had found out, but how? "How did you."  
  
Squall finished her sentence, "Find out?" he said vehemently, "Who cares how I found out, but if you really want to know; I heard you and Seifer talking earlier. I kept wondering why you and Seifer kept walking off alone and speaking in such hushed and hurried voices all the time. I didn't even mean to hear you, I was walking there and you two showed up so I hid, I didn't want to see anyone. and then I heard."  
  
Rinoa's heart dropped, she knew that he'd heard the whole thing and she didn't know what to say to him now.  
  
"Well?" he asked.  
  
Rinoa still said nothing, but after a long while she said, "It'd probably be better if you didn't know."  
  
At that Squall nearly exploded with anger, "Better if I didn't know? What makes you think so? I've been kept in the dark about it for fifteen years, and now I've found out. You see how angry I am, what makes you think you should keep anything further from me. unless." Squall thought for a moment, had Rinoa had an affair with Seifer during their engagement?  
  
Without saying another word, Squall stood up and crossed the room, "Where are you going?" Rinoa asked urgently.  
  
Squall didn't say anything; he just opened the door and left, leaving Rinoa alone with her thoughts and her tears. He jogged from the dormitories and up to the elevator, he pushed the buttons furiously and went up to Quistis's office, where he was sure that Seifer would be.  
  
The elevator door opened and he stepped out, looking around. He saw that Quistis was sitting on the couch and Seifer was standing, they both stopped talking to look at him.  
  
"Squall? What's going on? Why aren't you in your-" Quistis started but Squall had crossed the room and took Seifer by the collar, slamming him up against the wall.  
  
"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm pretty angry," Squall whispered, his eyes narrowed and staring into Seifer's. A piece of the old rivalry anger boiled between them, "You've any idea why that might be?"  
  
Seifer stared at him but said nothing; Squall didn't give him a chance too. "BECAUSE I'VE BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK FOR FIFTEEN YEARS! I'VE THOUGHT ALL ALONG THAT I WAS AURORA'S FATHER, I'VE FELT THAT WAY. NOW I FIND OUT OTHERWISE?" Squall erupted.  
  
"Squall-" Quistis began but Squall turned and pointed a finger at her, "I wasn't talking to you, so stay out of this. It doesn't concern you." He snapped and turned back to Seifer, whispering, "Why?"  
  
"Why?" Seifer repeated back to Squall, struggling out of his hold and backing away from him, "There was no reason why. it was an accident."  
  
"An accident, what do you mean an accident?" Squall demanded.  
  
"It was an accident." Quistis intervened, making Squall turn and glare at her, yet he didn't stop her, he was wondering why she was saying this.  
  
"What?" he asked, "You know?"  
  
"She knows, she's known all along." Seifer said, and before Squall could say anything else, Seifer spoke again, "It'll be better that you know that. Just. just let me explain."  
  
Squall backed off and gave Seifer room to move across the room to Quistis, they sat down and gestured for Squall to do the same but he remained standing.  
  
"Squall," Seifer began, "I won't deny that I am Aurora's father-" Squall made a tooting noise but didn't directly say anything except a mutter under his breath that nobody heard, and Seifer continued, "But it's not how it seems."  
  
"How it seems?" Squall said quietly, "You mean how it sounds like the person that I befriended after everything he'd done to my friends, had an affair with the only person that I've ever truly loved, an affair with my wife."  
  
"But I didn't have an affair with Rinoa, you weren't married to her yet-" Seifer was cut off again.  
  
"Oh, that makes it better; you decided that since I wasn't married to her that you could still make love?" Squall muttered.  
  
"Will you let me explain?" Seifer demanded, beginning to get angry. Quistis placed a hand on his, trying to calm him a bit but Seifer stood up angrily.  
  
"Why should I give you a chance to explain?" Squall snapped, "You betrayed my trust!"  
  
"I DIDN'T BETRAY YOU!" Seifer cried, "I would never do that. I'm different; I have been since after Ultimecia's grasp on me. I don't know if you remember, but I once loved Rinoa too. She was the only one that ever loved me for who I was, before I fell in love with Quistis, and naturally we did make love.  
  
Don't blame Rinoa for all of this. She never betrayed you, nor did I. It happened before you two met; at the end of our relationship. When Rinoa met you she ended it, not knowing that she was pregnant. then you two must have. well. and she knew that it must have been my baby because of how early Aurora was."  
  
This was making an absurd sense to Squall. Rinoa had been with Seifer, and when they had defeated Ultimecia, only about a month after they had met. they had made love. Aurora was an early baby. about two months in fact but he'd never really thought about it more.  
  
"It's true." Quistis whispered, "Seifer told me all about it when we were together secretly. and it all makes sense."  
  
"You got to believe me. we didn't betray you." Seifer said urgently, his voice calming down and he was staring at Squall with sad eyes.  
  
Squall nodded numbly but couldn't say anything; he just walked towards the elevator. "Where are you going?" Quistis called.  
  
Squall turned his head a little and said, "For a walk. I need to think."  
  
Quistis started after him but Seifer stopped her, saying "Leave him be. This is quite a situation to take in, especially after fifteen years of believing that Aurora was his daughter."  
  
"But she still is his daughter." Quistis frowned, "Just because you're her biological father, it doesn't mean that Squall should be pushed out. Squall has been her father for all these years, he's been there for her when she needed him, and when he needed her." She hesitated before saying, "He needs to know that."  
  
"He'll figure it out in time, but he needs to think. Hopefully he'll talk to Rinoa about all this." Seifer said, looking towards the elevator.  
  
Quistis nodded, and she stayed silent for a moment and then took a long breath, sighing afterwards and she walked to her desk, "We might as well keep on with our business. We've got to go into Deling City and get Zell, Clarissa, Laguna and Kiros.  
  
"Quistis, in the morning, it's too late! We've got to get some sleep or else we won't get anything done-" he was cut off by a loud rumbling nearby. Quistis looked out the window and gasped.  
  
The Roknarag that they'd come in was taking off; Quistis caught a glimpse of the pilot. It was Squall.  
  
"Seifer!" Quistis cried, "Squall's leaving!"  
  
Seifer ran up beside Quistis and shook his head, "Doesn't look like he's taking a walk."  
  
Quistis looked at him, her eyebrow raised, "Well, obviously!"  
  
The elevator doors opened and Rinoa came running out, panting. "Where. is. Squall?" and she looked out the large window and saw the Roknarag, "Please. don't tell me. that. that's. him!?  
  
Quistis nodded her head slowly and began to walk over to Rinoa, but Rinoa backed away and ran into the elevator, going up to the aircraft deck.  
  
"She can't fly!" Quistis cried, and a few seconds later they heard the rumble of another jet taking off. They looked out the window and saw Rinoa flying one of the smaller fighter jets.  
  
"Neither can Squall, but I guess that they've figured it all out!" Seifer said in an impressed sort of tone.  
  
"Seriously!" Quistis snapped, angry that Seifer didn't seem to be taking the situation for how serious it actually was. "What is with you?"  
  
Seifer shrugged.  
  
Quistis ran back to her desk and turned on the MIC. "Nida to the Pilot's deck!" she called, and through the Garden it echoed.  
  
Within minutes, Nida arrived in the office looking tired and weary. "What? What is it? Are we under attack?"  
  
Quistis shook her head, "Direct us right to Deling City. We're going in."  
  
Nida walked towards the lift towards the pilot's deck, he was grumbling about the time of the night and glaring at both Seifer and Quistis but they didn't notice; they were too busy making plans.  
  
As Nida arrived on the pilot's deck, the soft breeze of the night was upon him. He took the steering of the Garden and went to turn on the power lever to get the Garden moving but an urgent transmission stopped him.  
  
"BALAMB GARDEN! BALAMB GARDEN!" said the message, it was coming from the mic that could reach across the world. The Mic that he'd heard a message on earlier that same day.  
  
"Come in, Balamb Garden!" said the urgent voice on the transmission.  
  
Nida picked up the Mic, but before saying anything he called down to Quistis and Seifer. "Hey, I think you guys had better get up here and hear this!"  
  
"Balamb Garden, IN!" in said into the Mic.  
  
For a moment nothing came, except a buzzing sound and the sound of the lift coming up. Seifer and Quistis had arrived. At last another transmission came in. "This is SeeD commander of Trabia Garden, Alex Firina. Trabia Garden is under attack."  
  
The signal was fairly clear but the buzzing in the back- ground was slowly growing louder. "Trabia Garden, your under attack, am I correct?" Nida said into the Mic.  
  
"Correct, " said the SeeD commander, "The estharian army has come, we've held them off since earlier today, but we cannot much longer. We've been trying to get a transmission to you all day, and it seems this won't last long. We need help!"  
  
"How large is the army?" Quistis asked as she took the Mic from Nida.  
  
"Who's this?" the SeeD commander asked.  
  
"Quistis Trepe, Headmistress."  
  
"The army is growing, they began with the air fleet, and we held them off with the Garden's shields that we installed after the missile attacks years ago, and they let off with that but now we're being attacked with the army. We've blocked the Garden's gates, but we cannot hold them off much longer. The para soldiers are coming over the walls, and many of the SeeD's have held them off. There have been several casualties, at least 100 injuries and about ten deaths."  
  
Quistis shook her head, "How long can you hold them off for?"  
  
"I do not know! They're coming through, the students are in the midst of the Garden and they will not be safe for long. I'd say about two or three hour's maybe. at the most." the commander said.  
  
"We need more then just our Garden's SeeD's. we don't have enough to hold off the estharian soldiers again. We've already had many casualties from when we were in Esthar. We're going to have to call on Galbadia Garden. and the Galbadia army." Nida said to Quistis.  
  
Quistis thought for a moment, "Seifer. go now to Deling City, get the four of them and talk to President Landers, we need the Galbadia army. I'll call on Galbadia Garden, and address this Garden too."  
  
Seifer nodded and Quistis turned on the mic again, "We're coming. we'll help you!" she said.  
  
"THEY'RE COMING!... NO. TIME!. HELP.NOW!" the commander yelled through the Mic and there was a loud boom and a lot of gun shots in the background. The Mic was cut off and only faint crackling could be heard in the background.  
  
"Go." she whispered to Seifer, "Go now, we don't have much time. we've got to get there and help them!"  
  
Immediately, Seifer left the office and went to the parking lot to get a car. He needed to get into Deling City.  
  
****************************************************************  
  
Chapter XXII The Explanation  
  
". And then we fell through that hole in the forest ground, into the cave and found this place." Selphie finished. Her and Irvine had just finished telling their entire story all the way from Time Compression, fifteen years earlier, to the battle and them falling through the forest floor.  
  
The room was silent for a moment, and then at last Ulrich spoke. "I see. zat sounds like very interesting 'appenings in your life. Vat do you tink, Nateria?"  
  
Nateria looked up; she had been twiddling with something on the floor, "I think zat zey 'ave put a lot of tought into zis story of zers."  
  
Ulrich's interested expression turned to a quick disappointment and then to anger within seconds, "Nateria!" he said loudly, "Vhy don't you show some respect to zes people. Zey 'ave done no 'arm 'ere and still, you von't give zem ze respect zat zey deserve!"  
  
Nateria looked abashed, she hadn't expected Ulrich to take it so seriously. "I am sorry," she said finally, looking at all three of them pointedly and in turn, "I am just vary of 'umans and zeir veys." She was looking at Irvine and Selphie apologetically.  
  
Selphie, who was sitting silently, looked at Nateria and smiled. "We haven't come here to cause your kind any troubles or problems. We were just trying to get out of the forest, and we found this place." She said.  
  
Nateria was silent for a moment, and she looked at Ulrich. She began speaking quickly in some other language to Ulrich who also spoke quickly back. They seemed to be discussing something of great importance as it took them a few minutes before they stopped.  
  
Nateria looked at them, "Zere may be a vay for you to get out of here, but it is dangerous. and you vill end up in ze ice land." She said, her voice lower then usual.  
  
"Ice land?" Irvine asked, his face blank.  
  
"Ze Ice Land, yes," said Ulrich, "Nateria and I vent zere a long time ago, ven ve vere foolish child's and craved adventures. ze ice land iz ze place vere water in all it's forms exists. Vhite powder everyvhere, and vide open spaces and ze sky! Big and blue and full of vhite puffs."  
  
Selphie's eyes widened, the place seemed familiar to her, "It's Trabia!" she said, excitedly.  
  
""Ow do you know zat zis place zat ve talk about is Trabia?" Nateria said.  
  
"I used to live there, that was where my home was. I was there from when I was a little girl until I was about 17 when I went to Balamb. I went to school in Trabia Garden." Selphie explained.  
  
Ulrich and Nateria looked at each other, from the brief explanation of the Garden's, they never assumed one would be in what they called the ice land. "I see," Ulrich said.  
  
"One question," Irvine intervened, looking around at them all, "How exactly do we get there?"  
  
Ulrich stood up and began pacing back and forth, "Vell, ve can take ze cave paths to ze gap of ronnu. from zere ve take ze path's to ze great slope of brinaca, it really iz not far. Zat is vere ve leave you, zough. Ve do not go into ze ice land."  
  
"Vat!" Nateria said, "No way, ve can't go!"  
  
"Vhy," Ulrich argued, "Zey need to get out, clearly. Zey explained it all to us, zey need to get out of ze caves and back to Esthar where their friends are."  
  
"Actually," Selphie said in a small voice, "We don't even know that they're there for sure, we just have to get out to find them. so much could have happened by now."  
  
Ulrich or Nateria didn't seem to hear her, "Ve can't leave our cave, it iz too dangerous and ve must stay, ve are ze leaders 'ere!" Nateria said urgently.  
  
"I cannot think of any ozer's 'oo vill take zem, let alone know ze vay. You do not 'ave to go, but I must." Ulrich insisted.  
  
Nateria crossed her arms, "Fine." She said, "But if your going, zen I am coming vith you!"  
  
Ulrich smiled and looked and Selphie and Irvine, "She alvays gives in," he said in a mumble that only they could hear.  
  
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria asked.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," Ulrich said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Anyvay, ve must leave soon. Today az a matter of fact, Nateria and I vill gather needed items and ve will leave vithin ze hour."  
  
Ulrich and Nateria went to leave but Irvine quickly spoke up, "How long is this journey?"  
  
"About half a day or so I should think." Ulrich said and walked out.  
  
Irvine looked at Selphie, "How are we supposed to get up there anyway? It's an awful long journey from here to Trabia, isn't it? How can it only take a half a day?"  
  
"I dunno, but we are in the northern area of the Grandidi Forest, I guess. and underground I should think it wouldn't be that far, maybe it does only take that long.." Selphie said, "But as for where we'll end up in Trabia and how we get up there. well, that's a blank one for me."  
  
"Unhand them!" Laguna yelled. He and Lexi had just arrived at Caraway's mansion and saw Zell and Clarissa being held some Galbadian soldiers. Laguna had run up and threw the soldiers off, and looked at Landers menacingly. "What the hell do you think your doing?"  
  
Landers was taken aback, "They were with-holding information about your where-abouts," his taken aback look was quickly replaced with a look of anger, "Where were you anyway?"  
  
Laguna looked quickly back at Lexi, who standing with Zell and Clarissa, looking nervously around at them all. Clearly she was very uncomfortable with being so close with the angry president. "I was," he paused, "I was, er, helping out some troubled citizens."  
  
Landers looked hard at Laguna and then his he glanced at Lexi, "Who's that? This is an official matter, not some public demonstration."  
  
"That's Alexandra," Laguna nodded towards Lexi, "She is here on my invitation. Don't forget, Landers, that you aren't the only president here. She is helping me in some, er, matters." He added, trying to come up with a good reason for here to be there.  
  
Landers glanced at Lexi again, "Fine. Just so long as she isn't spreading our conversations and matters all over the city. For now, everything at hand is to be kept strictly confidential."  
  
Laguna nodded. "So," he said to Landers and Caraway, "What was so urgent, why-" His attention was distracted by a speeding car, racing up the road and screeching to a ear piercing stop; it wasn't only the car that made him curious, it was the fact that Seifer Almasy stepped out.  
  
"Seifer?" Laguna asked, walking to meet him. Seifer had run from the car and ran up the path, he looked in a panic, "What are you doing here?" Laguna asked.  
  
"It's important. and urgent," he breathed, looking around at them all, "It's about Trabia Garden, Adel is attacking them! Quistis sent me to tell you, we need the Galbadian army, Adel must have already taken the entire Esthar army and is using their forces again Trabia. we have to get there, now!" he explained.  
  
Laguna was staring at Seifer wide eyed; "She's attacking Trabia?" Seifer nodded intently, and seemed to be anxious to get back to the Garden. Laguna turned to Caraway and Landers, "What d'you say?"  
  
Landers raised his eyebrow and smirked, "We made a deal, didn't we?"  
  
Laguna turned to Seifer and said, "Go back to the Garden and tell Quistis that we're on our way. We will contact you on the way to Trabia, once we come up with a battle plan."  
  
"Wait," said Zell suddenly, "We'll go with Seifer, we should be back at the Garden anyway."  
  
Laguna nodded and the three of them took off. Caraway looked at Landers, "Shall I inform the army?"  
  
"Yes," Landers replied, "And tell that Kiros man to remain with the air force, tell him that on order, that they are to head to Trabia." Caraway turned away and headed away from the mansion. Laguna assumed he was headed to the army base in the city.  
  
"Well," Landers turned to Laguna, "It seems that we'll see how well the Galbadian army can match the great Estharian army."  
  
Laguna nodded solemnly and looked back at Lexi, who was swaying slightly on the spot, looking nervous. 


	12. 23,24

Chapter XXIII The Gap of Ronnu  
  
Adel looked out towards the near Trabia continent from the bow of the ship. The rushing wind in her face, blowing through her bright red hair made her look fierce and triumphant, almost as though she were a good hearted, powerful woman. However, the cold and hungry gleam in her eyes made you shiver, remembering her evil ways.  
  
She closed her eyes, letting the wind carry her to her dreams, though, when a man came up behind her; she turned around and glared at him. "Why," she said coldly, "Are you so rudely disturbing me?"  
  
The man looked terrified at the very thought of what those eyes could do to him, though, he answered quietly, barely enough for Adel to hear, "S.Sorry, m.m.my g.gg...r.eat."  
  
"What?" Adel demanded, now turning completely around, an evil smirk on her pale and nearly emotionless face, "Speak up!"  
  
"Sorry. to. disturb you," he said, staring at the ground, carefully trying not to look at her eyes to much; they frightened him "I was t.told to come and t.tell y.you that w.we need y.your input on the n.next course of a.action."  
  
Adel looked out towards the continent again and smirked, "Very well," she boomed, "I shall return to the cabin to give orders, but before you go, what is the status on our prisoners?"  
  
"As far as we know, Aurora is asleep in her cabin and the other is knocked out," said the man, feeling more useful to report something of so much importance.  
  
"WHAT?" Adel bellowed. The man stepped back, now looking very scared again, "As far as you know?" her eyes narrowed, "GO AND SEE FOR SURE!" The man blinked and ran away towards the underdeck entrance.  
  
The corridor was empty, as far as Sirus could tell. He stepped quietly, trying to rush too much because it would make to much noise; he was lucky enough as it was. "Which room?" he wondered, "Where could she be?" He stood on the spot for a moment, thinking hard with a terrible feeling in his stomach. "What if I never get to see her again." he wondered, frowning.  
  
The corridor had about twelve rooms, and he had about 6 keys. He guessed that some of the rooms either had the same keys, or he couldn't get into them. He turned to look at his own door, and saw that it was completely black with a small handle in the center. There were only about four rooms like that. He figured those must be prison cells, and if Aurora was there, then she'd probably be in one of those rooms. Sirus walked down the hall a little, close to the stairs and unlocked the first door. The room was empty and looked exactly the same as his.  
  
He frowned and closed the door, moving on to the next one. It was also empty except for a tall cabinet in the corner of the room. He decided it wouldn't hurt to look inside, so he opened the cabinet doors and to his luck he found a gun blade along with numerous other weapons. He slipped the gun blade into his belt.  
  
Feeling slightly better, now having a weapon, he moved onto the next two rooms with the same doors as his, but they were also empty. This made him nervous. "What room?" he asked, realizing that he probably didn't have much time. He studied the keys and there was one that was a silver color, while the others were brass or gold.  
  
"This must be the key to her room," he said, biting his lip, hoping that he was right. He looked at all the door handles and only one room had a silver lock, the one opposite of him. He fit the key in the lock and opened the door.  
  
"Aurora!" he cried, dropping the keys on the floor with a loud click. Aurora was sitting in the corner of the room, huddled with her arms over her knees. When she heard the door open, she lifted her head out of her arms, looking around weakly. When she saw him, she thought that she was dreaming. "Sirus?"  
  
"Aurora!" Sirus ran to her, and hugged her tightly, fighting back a sudden urge to burst into tears of both joy and relief; he could hardly believe it.  
  
Aurora finally came to total alertness and realized what was going on, she stared at him, her eyes wide. "Sirus? You're here! You're really here!" tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks now.  
  
"I'm here," he smiled and kissed her, "I'm here." he let go of her and helped her up from the floor and then hugged her tightly again, unable to hold back the tears now. "I thought I'd never see you again," he whispered.  
  
As Irvine, Selphie, Ulrich and Nateria left the cave, all of the 'tree- swingers' were yelling and waving goodbye. "They seem a nice bunch, don't they?" Irvine whispered to Selphie.  
  
"Ve do not get visitors 'ere, you know," said Ulrich, matter-of-factly, "I tink zat zey enjoyed 'aving a change, even if zey did not talk to you."  
  
The four of them had gone through the way that Irvine and Selphie had gotten into the cave. Apparently, the wall hadn't been completely covered; there was a small rock lever that Irvine and Selphie did not see. When the lever was pulled, the gap opened for a few seconds and then closed again, to a very small crack where light came through.  
  
They were now in the cave that Irvine and Selphie had fallen into. "Where do we go from here?" Selphie asked curiously, "I never saw another way out."  
  
"Zat's because you do not see right, zere is alvays a vay," Nateria touched the wall to the right of where they stood, in three places; the wall shuddered and then another gap opened in the wall, this time, instead of a greenish light, a purplish gleam came though.  
  
"Tch," Selphie muttered, "As if we were supposed to see that. Know it all." She added bitterly.  
  
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria turned to look at Selphie, all four of her eyes fixed intently on her, as if the see right through her.  
  
"Oh," Selphie's eyes widened innocently, "Nothing."  
  
Nateria's mouth twitched but she said nothing more on the matter. Instead she said, "Ve vill reach ze Gap of Ronnu in about an hour, zat is vhere ve must be very careful."  
  
"Why?" asked Irvine.  
  
"You'll see," Nateria said, and turned into the gap, leading the way into the hazy, purple light. Selphie came second, the Irvine, and following last was Ulrich. Once they stepped through the gap, it closed, leaving no trace that it had ever been there, or, at least to Selphie and Irvine, it did anyway.  
  
The four of them walked in single pace, silently. The only sound was the soft patting of their feet on the soft ground (it was some sort of earthy ground) and the distant dropping of water. The purplish light didn't seem to be coming from anywhere; it was just, there.  
  
They stepped over the odd stump of earth in the ground, carefully trying not to step on anyway in case it was important; the last thing that they needed was to cause some sort of a problem. The funny thing for them was that the walk was so simple, they seemed to be heading steadily downhill in the narrow cave. Though, it kept twisting and turning in unexpected places, they sometimes thought it was a maze.  
  
"What an easy walk!" said Selphie cheerfully, now turning a very sharp corner and stepping easily over a few small bumps in the ground.  
  
"Zis is just ze beginning," Ulrich said from behind, "It goes uphill again on the great slope of brinaca."  
  
"But if it's the same type of slope as this, then it can't be too hard, can it?" Irvine asked, looking down at the ground.  
  
"Don't be so sure," Ulrich frowned, "Ven zey built zis tunnel under ze sea, zey measured wrong and zey had to immediately go back up to the land level. It iz a very great slope."  
  
"And what of this gap of Ronnu?" Selphie asked, wondering why it was so dangerous.  
  
"You vill see, ve are almost zere." Ulrich said.  
  
"Not almost," Nateria said, looking back at them, "Ve are zere now."  
  
Sure enough, the turn ended and the purple light grew brighter, enough for them to see the entire cave. It was much, much, higher then the tunnels, and wide, as wide as they could see.  
  
However, that wasn't what was amazed, and scared them. About fifty feet from where they stood, there was a hole, though, it was more like a gap, and it spread about seventy feet across the cave and keep going in either direction. The name, being a gap, certainly fit such a place.  
  
"Wow," Selphie exclaimed, and walked towards the edge of the gap and looked down, "It doesn't have a bottom!"  
  
"Don't be silly," Nateria said, who followed her, "Of course it haz a bottom, you just cannot see it because it iz too far below. It iz a river down zere."  
  
"But how do we get across?" Irvine frowned, looking to the other side where the tunnel kept going, a bluish light filtering out through it.  
  
"Ve jump," Ulrich sounded quite delighted as he gestured to the cave floor where about six very long poles lay.  
  
"We what?" Selphie turned around and stared at Ulrich, who had now taken up one of the poles and stood it up.  
  
"Not you," said Nateria, walking over to met Ulrich, "Ve jump," she gestured to herself and Ulrich, "You do not 'ave the ability. You must use the board. Ven our kind used to come 'ere, the children 'ad to use ze board, also."  
  
Irvine and Selphie noticed a very long board, next to the cave's wall. It was old, and about three inches wide. "We're supposed to use that?" Irvine asked, skeptically.  
  
Too late. Ulrich and Nateria were already on the other side; they apparently had used the poles to propel them across the chasm. "I suppose that we just lay the board across then." Said Irvine. Selphie nodded nervously.  
  
The two of them grabbed the board and shifted it so that they could slide it evenly across the chasm. With a lot of strength, and luck, they managed it, though, the board barely fit across the chasm.  
  
"I'll go first," said Irvine, grabbing one of the shorter poles and using it as a balance guide, and he began walking slowly across. With each step that he took the board shuttered slightly, and he was afraid that it would break underneath his weight. It made him feel better to think that if he could make it, then Selphie definitely could.  
  
Once he got across he gestured for Selphie to come across. She grabbed a pole for support also, and walked across, slightly faster then Irvine, but slow. Finally, she made it to the edge, and stepped off onto the cave floor, which seemed to be made of rock.  
  
"Yes!" she said, and jumped up as she always did when she was excited. When she landed, the ground shuddered slightly, and in a flash it seemed, the rock beneath her had collapsed and she fell, Irvine grabbing her arm. Irvine fell forwards into the Gap, and someone grabbed his leg, it was Nateria. Both Irvine and Selphie's lives rested in the hands of Nateria.  
  
Chapter XXIV The Jump  
  
The stars were fading from the sky, and a new dawn was arising; illuminating the dark sky to a pinkish, purple color. The great puffy clouds weren't their regular white color, but a light pink.  
  
The brilliant blue and green lights of Balamb Garden were becoming faint as they gliding over the ocean's surface at a great speed. They were headed towards Trabia, and were leaving the darkness of Galbadia.  
  
Over head, several jets flew steadily, once and a while dropping and rising again, and moving in and out from one another, and behind the Garden came a good twenty to thirty ships; Galbadian ships. They were prepared for war.  
  
Quistis, Seifer, Zell, Clarissa and Ellone sat nervously in Quistis' office, awaiting the call from Laguna as to what the battle action would be. Nida was up on the pilot's deck steering. There was a very nervous silence; Quistis had just addressed the entire Garden that they would once again, be going into battle against the Estharian soldiers.  
  
It was surprising when several students showed up in Quistis' office, asking how they could help, such as flying. It was especially good for them to know, however, that they had time to prepare for this battle.  
  
Quistis stood up and walked to her desk, frowning. She was thinking hard about what they could do to access the Garden from the outside, but the army probably already surrounded it.  
  
She thought for a few more minutes, tapping her foot silently. She gave a start when a loud beep came from the communication's system in her office. Quickly, she walked over and picked up the receiver.  
  
"Come in!" said a familiar voice. It was Laguna. "Quistis, Come in."  
  
"I'm here," Quistis had pushed the button down, and let it go, unaware that now everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats, listening for what Laguna would say.  
  
"We have a plan," Laguna stated, "Listen up."  
  
Quistis said nothing, and allowed him to continue.  
  
"Our plan is for the air fleet, flying above you, to head to into the region first, leaded by a scout who will report what is going on. Copy that?"  
  
Quistis pressed the button, "Copy."  
  
"Then," he continued, "The army of Galbadia will go in using their trucks to get there faster, and begin the surprise attack. And about ten minutes later, the skilled Garden students will come, and back up the army. Copy?"  
  
"We understand," Quistis said, "But what of the Garden, should we leave it on shore, or use it to get to Trabia?"  
  
For a moment, there was no answer, and then finally, Laguna came back on. "You will leave the Garden behind the mountains, out of sight. SeeD will proceed on foot, the Estharian army will not expect that."  
  
Quistis agreed, "And that is all?" she asked, now looking at Seifer, who was anxiously awaiting the battle.  
  
"Yes," Laguna said, "Any further information, we will tell you. Make sure that you wear the headset you have there, we may need to contact one another during the battle."  
  
"Copy that," Quistis said, "Where are you?"  
  
"The Ragnarok with Landers and Kiros (plus the pilot and soldiers)." Just as Laguna said this, Quistis heard the distinctive sound of the Ragnarok speeding above them and then she seen it zoom ahead of them.  
  
"We are nearly there," Laguna said. "We will inform you what Garden should do at the shore when we get closer. Approximately thirty minutes."  
  
For a second, Quistis didn't say anything; there was a sudden thought in her mind, and she wasn't sure whether or not she should ask, but she did. "What about Galbadia Garden, didn't they want to help?"  
  
This time a different voice came onto the system, it was Landers. "Galbadia Garden separated from civilized society a long time ago. We did not ask them, as they swore to never help the Galbadian army. Out." He seemed to have shut off his system.  
  
Quistis turned and faced the rest of them; "Well," she said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms, "That's it, isn't it? We're going to have to fight again." She was not too pleased with the idea.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Sirus pulled away from Aurora, now able to hold off his sobs. He smiled true for the first time since the night that him and Aurora had danced together. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life!" he said to her.  
  
Aurora smiled back at him, tears still running silently down her cheeks, and quite suddenly, she hugged him again, breaking down into sobs, "I was so worried," she whispered through her sobs, ".So worried."  
  
For a minute, they stood there, holding each other but when a loud noise sounded, they pulled apart. Someone was coming towards the room. Sirus ran to the door and stepped out, trying to look suspicious, and he closed it to the point where it was only open a little.  
  
A soldier was coming towards him, staring hard at him. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking from him to the door.  
  
Sirus stood up straight, "I was just checking on the prisoner, sir." He said, trying hard to not stutter or look to hard at the ground, or the roof for the matter.  
  
The soldier frowned, "Why are you calling me, sir? I am not your commanding officer."  
  
Sirus said nothing for a moment, he wasn't sure whether or not he should say anything. The soldier stared at him, and then stepped back, "Wait a minute!" he said loudly, "Your not the guard, your that boy!" The soldier now advanced on him, but Sirus was too fast, he took the back of the gun on his uniform and bashed it over the soldiers' head.  
  
The soldier fell to the floor with a loud thud, he was knocked out. Sirus opened the door looked at Aurora, "We don't have much time, we've got to go!"  
  
Aurora frowned, "But where are we going to go? This is a boat, isn't it?"  
  
Sirus didn't say anything; he walked over to Aurora, grabbed her hand, and led her from the room. He dragged the soldier in, shut and locked the door. "All I know," Sirus said, as they walked quietly down the hallway towards the stairwell, "Is that we have got to get off this boat."  
  
They were nearly at the stairwell when they heard voices above; they couldn't possibly get up that way. "There has to be another way!" Aurora exclaimed, looking around wildly.  
  
They turned around and went in the opposite direction, and found another hallway, to the left. It led straight for a few meters and then turned right. They looked at each other and silently agreed that it was the only way, so they followed the hallway.  
  
Once the hallway turned right, it led straight for nearly the length of the other corridor, but it was a dead end except for a ladder on the left side of the hallway. Sirus and Aurora approached the ladder and looked up, there was a hatch.  
  
"What do you think?" Sirus asked Aurora.  
  
Voices sounded in the long corridor that they had been imprisoned in. Apparently, they had found the two knocked out soldiers in Aurora and Sirus' rooms and were yelling for a full search of the ship.  
  
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice." Aurora looked at Sirus, but we don't know what's up there, what if we open it and Adel is standing right there, ready for us?"  
  
Sirus nodded, but then said, "Yes, but if we stay here then the soldiers will find us. Either way, we'd be caught. At least this way we have a chance of hiding."  
  
Aurora nodded, "Open the hatch."  
  
Sirus climbed the ladder and slowly twisted the wooden handle on the dark chestnut hatch and pushed, looking through the crack. He looked back down at Aurora, "As far as I can see, the coast is clear, it looks like we're behind a big crate or something."  
  
Sirus now opened the hatch completely and climbed up, helping Aurora out of the hatch hole. He then closed the hatch, and looked around. Aurora seen that he was right, they were behind a huge crate where they seemed to be hidden.  
  
"Now what?" she frowned, looking around. The ship appeared to be travelling along a large cliff, only a few meters away, maybe 20 at the most, but they were on the side of the ship that was towards the sea. They seemed to be on the bow of the ship, and there were a few other crates.  
  
"I think we should go to the other side of the ship, see if we can get close enough to jump." Sirus said.  
  
Aurora looked at him and shook her head. "Are you crazy?" she was now wide eyed, "We can't make such a jump, look how high this ship is!"  
  
"OY," said a voice suddenly, "I SEE'EM, THE BOW OF THE SHIP. AHOY, MEN!"  
  
Sirus and Aurora looked back and up. On the control deck of the ship, there was a watch point, which was high enough to see the entire ship. They suddenly heard footsteps racing towards them.  
  
Sirus grabbed Aurora's hand and they ran to the opposite side of the ship, Sirus jumped up on the ledge. "We don't have a choice, Aurora!" he said, in a pleading voice, "Please don't be scared. it's going to be alright." Even Sirus didn't really want to jump, it was quite high, but if they didn't, then Aurora would be caught again; he would do anything in his power to prevent that from happening.  
  
"Aurora," he pleaded. Aurora was looking around, she was nearly going to faint. The soldiers were getting near, and she didn't know what to do. "Please, Aurora. just jump!"  
  
Aurora looked up at Sirus and quite suddenly, jumped up onto the ledge, looking down.  
  
"HEY!" said one of the soldiers, who was now only meters away, "GET DOWN!"  
  
Aurora and Sirus looked at each other, and Sirus kissed Aurora. "I love you." he whispered, and holding her hand, they jumped. The soldier missed their feet by inches.  
  
*********************************************************** 


	13. 25,26

Chapter XXV......The Parting  
  
(Why did I have to leave her there?) Laguna sighed, thinking about his parting from Lexi, wishing that she could have come.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lexi, but I've got to do this, I've got to go with the president to defend this country, and hopefully save my own," he told her, unable to look her in the eyes. "Oh, but Laguna.." she had trailed off, fiddling with her sleeve hem. "I promise that I'll see you again, I'll be back," he said to her, now looking into her eyes and lifting her chin. She nodded. "And I promise I will help any way that I can," she whispered, sounding as though she were going to cry and looking into his eyes. She held the gaze for a few seconds, before running off in the direction of the hotel in Deling City.  
  
(I wonder what she meant by that. 'help in any way.'. I hope she's not going to do anything stupid.) Laguna thought, slumping in his seat, and frowning.  
  
"Laguna?" asked Kiros, almost started by the expression that was upon Laguna's face.  
  
"Oh!" Laguna looked up quite suddenly, surprised, and then said, "Sorry, I've just been. thinking."  
  
Kiros raised his eyebrow and smirked a little, "Oh no, here we go again."  
  
It took a moment for Laguna to realize what he meant, "HEY!" he said, defensively, "What's that supposed'ta mean?"  
  
Kiros stood up (he had been sitting across the deck) and crossed the deck, sitting beside Laguna with a soft thump. He looked a Laguna, "It's her, isn't it." he stated, the smirk broadened, his eye brow raised expectantly.  
  
Laguna looked at the floor again and twiddled with his hands, turning his head slightly to the side, trying to figure out the right way to put this. "Kiros," he said, "I. I haven't felt this way about someone.since. since."  
  
"Since Raine?" Kiros finished for him. He was looking at Laguna with sympathy in his eyes. He knew how much he cared for Raine, how much he loved her. how much he still loves her.  
  
"Yeah," Laguna sat up and looked at Kiros, "I felt this way when I first met Raine. and I didn't know what it was," he said, "So I never acted on it for a long time, and then I lost her. It was all my fault, I left her, and now I've left Lexi too. What if. what if something happens while we're gone?" he finished. Kiros could tell by the way he put his head down that he was holding off the urge to cry.  
  
Kiros frowned, "First off, it wasn't your fault what happened to Raine. It would have happened whether or not you were there. If you were there, you'd probably be dead too. How were you to know that the soldiers would come to Winhill again? They'd already come to get Ellone." He said solemnly, " And as for Lexi, well, from what I've seen, she's not exactly someone you should have to worry about.. She's strong, she can fight and defend herself. She's going to be alright."  
  
"I suppose," he put his head down again, grabbing it in frustration, despite the good words that Kiros had said to him.  
  
Kiros put a hand on Laguna's back, "It's going to be fine,"  
  
At that, Landers entered the pilot's deck from the elevator, a determined look on his face. He looked at them quickly, "Ready?" he asked.  
  
Laguna and Kiros nodded, now standing up, ready for action. Fond memories came back to their minds quite suddenly, mostly about their earlier days as soldiers in the Galbadian army, and how they were always ready for a fight.  
  
"Right then! We will address the Garden, tell them to stay behind, and we will fly ahead." Landers said, "Our Ragnarok, with the fifty soldiers aboard, will land inside of Trabia Garden and secure the inside, making sure none of the Estharian soldiers get in, and then we'll go from there. The headmaster of the Garden, Eustace Aravir, should be inside somewhere, we need to find him and inform him that the army is here."  
  
"Shouldn't we at least try to inform Galbadia Garden?" Laguna asked, "The Estharian army is huge! We may not be able to hold them. I should know." he added in an undertone.  
  
"You heard what I said to the headmistress of Balamb Garden. It cannot, and will not happen!" Landers said shortly, obviously holding down his temple (his face was quite red).  
  
Laguna frowned at this, but instead of arguing, he turned to the communications system and switched it on. "Come in, Quistis, Come in."  
  
"Laguna?" said Quistis' voice.  
  
"Yeah, its me," said Laguna, "We're nearly there, you're to direct the Garden to the shoreline and stop there, you will receive transmission when we're ready for you."  
  
"Right," Quistis said, "And what's your plan?"  
  
Laguna glanced quickly at Landers, and then said, "We will land in Trabia Garden, and secure the premises, and then the air fleet will defend the on ground soldiers coming in from the ships, and then, we will call in the Garden students, they are to come on foot."  
  
For a moment, there was no response, and then, "Are you sure that's going to work, how many soldiers do you have in the Ragnarok?"  
  
"Fifty."  
  
"FIFTY?" said a new voice, "They won't survive for more then twenty minutes in there!" It was Seifer's voice.  
  
"Well," said Laguna, frowning, "It isn't up to me how many soldiers are going in, it's up to me to secure the premises."  
  
"Laguna," said Quistis' voice again, "Please. be careful."  
  
Laguna said nothing more except, "Take care. and.see you."  
  
He changed the channel on the system and informed the fighter jets of the air fleet to standby and be ready to fight, once the on land soldiers leave the ships.  
  
Once he was finished informing all of these people, the Ragnarok was now hovering over a mountain on the edge of the continent, and they were all looking out the window, staring at the ongoing battle at Trabia.  
  
Though it was still hundreds of yards away, they could see the Estharian forces going at Trabia, bombing it, and trying to find ways in to it; there were even ladders being pushed upwards and falling onto the sides of the barrier of the Garden, allowing soldiers to get in.  
  
The grounds in the valley were the Garden sat was filled with soldiers, some dead, but many still up and fighting with the Garden students. The sad thing was that there were only about three hundred Garden students fighting, and about a two thousand soldiers against them. Also, on the other side on the mountain, there were soldiers marching towards the Garden, going around the mountain.. So many that Laguna had to sit down.  
  
There was a good five thousand soldiers coming around the mountainside. It was clear that Adel was willing to do anything. anything. to take hold of Trabia Garden.  
  
"Come on now," said Nateria, holding onto Irvine's leg, "Come on," With unbelievable strength, with Ulrich steadying her by holding onto her middle, she pulled Irvine and Selphie up, and out of the Gap.  
  
Selphie and Irvine stood up, brushing themselves off, and looking cautiously over the edge, wondering how they got up. They turned to Nateria and stared. Selphie suddenly hugged her, causing Nateria to give a look of confusion. Though, the look quickly turned to a smile and Selphie let go.  
  
"How can we ever thank you enough?" Selphie exclaimed.  
  
Irvine was smiling but didn't know what to say, so he hugged her too, and in turn, shook Ulrich's hand.  
  
"Oh," said Nateria, "No need. Ve must keep going, ve are more zen 'alf way zere now. Follow me!" she ran ahead, Ulrich just smiled broadly and then turned to follow her, leaving Irvine and Selphie to follow into the bright bluish light of the tunnel ahead.  
  
"How'd she pull us both up?" Irvine wondered out loud to Selphie, who shrugged and walked on.  
  
They quickened their pace and caught up to Ulrich and Nateria. The tunnel wasn't twisting and turning anymore, though, the slope was getting gradually steeper, and the bluish light was fading.  
  
After nearly an hour on walking on and on, the tunnel's light was faint, but still sort of bluish and the slope had taken a definite turn upwards. It was like they were walking up and continually long staircase, even though the stairs were like landings and in between, they had to use roots and such to make their way up the slope.  
  
The last part of the slope came slowly, as they were travelling in silence. The tree-swingers seemed to have no trouble finding their way up the slope, but Selphie and Irvine were drenched with sweat and stopping for a few seconds on each landing to catch their breath.  
  
The tunnel was gradually getting thinner and soon was only about six feet across, from about fifteen feet when they were at the bottom. Finally, they reached the last landing and stood up, looking around. The tunnel went straight ahead for awhile, and then ended, it seemed to take a turn.  
  
Irvine and Selphie turned to Ulrich and Nateria, who were standing, no longer moving along; "You guys comin'?" Selphie asked.  
  
"It iz ze end of ze line," said Ulrich, "Past ze turn is the moveable rock where you can leave zis tunnel and enter your world."  
  
"You guys won't go that far?" Irvine asked.  
  
Both of them shook their heads and stared at Irvine and Selphie.  
  
Irvine stepped forward and smiled, "Thank you," he said, "For welcoming us the way that you have, and for listening to our story and for everything that you have done for us."  
  
"Don't forgot leading us through the tunnels too, and saving our lives," piped in Selphie, also smiling.  
  
Ulrich hugged Selphie, and Irvine, so did Nateria. "Our kind vould 'ave never thought zat ve'd become friends with 'umans," said Nateria, smiling (a first true smile they'd really seen), "But you 'ave shown uz zat ve can. thank-you.. Friends." she added.  
  
"Ve velcome you back at any time you vant to come, if you can find ze vey." Ulrich said, smiling.  
  
At that, the two tree-swingers turned and walked down the slope, as easily as if it were no slope at all, and eventually, they were out of sight.  
  
Irvine and Selphie turned, and walked silently down the tunnel, and sure enough, at the turn, the tunnel continued for only a few feet and then there was a solid wall where a small shining light could be seen shining at the floor.  
  
"That must be it," said Selphie and Irvine nodded. They walked to the wall and touched it, waiting.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
Chapter XXVI.....Dreams do Come True  
  
(What good is this?) Squall wondered to himself as he flew over the vast ocean, towards the Continent where Edea resided (he'd just been in the Balamb area). The sun was setting on the ocean, and Fisherman's Horizon could be seen in the distance in front of him, glowing slightly in the falling darkness.  
  
(Quistis and Seifer probably really need me right now, and I've left Rinoa. why did I do this did I leave?) he thought, clicking a button on the board causing the Roknarag to a stop in mid-air, over a vast field.  
  
He looked around, the small specks of stars were now appearing in the sky and the faint city lights of Esthar City could be seen in the far distance, glittering like stars on the land.  
  
He leaned back in the seat of the ship, placing his hands on the side of his head in frustration. "WHY?" he yelled out loud, now leaning forward and cupping his hands over his face.  
  
"Why didn't they tell me sooner?" he whispered, closing his eyes.  
  
A faint sound could be heard in the not to far from him. It was the sound of another aircraft. Squall looked up, now hearing it. He could see something coming towards him rapidly, and he squinted out the window, it was hard to see in the dark.  
  
"Squall?" the communications system was on, and Rinoa's voice echoed through.  
  
For a moment, Squall sat stunned, had he just heard Rinoa on the comm system?  
  
"Squall, is that you in front of me?" she said, and now Squall knew that it was her. Her jet approached his, close now.  
  
"Rinoa?" Squall picked up the reciever.  
  
"Oh, Squall! I didn't think that I'd find you!" she sounded as though she were about to cry. "I searched and searched." she trailed off before saying, "Please land, I want to talk to you!"  
  
Squall said nothing for a moment, unsure of whether or not he should just leave. He knew he couldn't let his anger get a hold of him again. After a moment of consideration, he ultimately decided that they should talk, even though he avoided talking things out most of the time, if possible. He took the steering and brought the Roknarag down in the field, and Rinoa followed suit.  
  
He left the jet and walked out into the field, it was wide and vast, a flowery field. The stars gleamed above, like tiny candles individually lit. The large moon shined down onto the ocean that could be seen, glittering with the reflective twinkles. Crashing waves boomed in the distance against the rocky cliffs and the soft and pleasant sound of crickets could be heard, chirping happily in the dark. The place was familiar. how could he have forgotten?  
  
He walked forward and several feet from the ship, stopped and stood silently, waiting. Soon enough, Rinoa reached him, stepping in front of him, tilting her head to the side as she always did, she seemed to be waiting for something.  
  
Squall's dark eyes turned to her, at first they were hard, and cold. It was as though they were a closed window to his soul, wishing to be opened. He stared at her, frowning, he didn't want to give in. but he couldn't help it. His eyes suddenly didn't seem so cold, but warm now, and open. He couldn't bear it; he stepped forward and embraced Rinoa in a hug, wanting to stay like this forever, but she pulled away, soft tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"I'm sorry." she whispered, now looking at the ground, her foot rotating in a slow circle, "So sorry."  
  
Squall reached forward and wiped the tears off her soft cheeks, but he said nothing. His throat seemed to have closed off.  
  
"I." she hesitated for a moment, looking up into his eyes. "I didn't want to tell you because." she paused for a moment, "Because when Aurora was born. the love in your eyes. it was unbelievable, a genuine love for a child that I haven't seen before. The moment you laid eyes on her, I saw it! I guess. I wanted Aurora to have the love of a father that I never had. " She wished he would say something now.  
  
Squall still remained silent, he couldn't find his voice, so he just looked into Rinoa's eyes, frowning.  
  
"I couldn't bear to take that away from her. I couldn't take it away from you." she hesitated for a moment, holding their gaze, "And despite was anyone says, you are her father, nobody but you. That will never change."  
  
Squall nodded numbly, and more tears ran down Rinoa's cheek. A tear even leaked out of his eye. There was silence, and for a few moments he looked around, his gaze sweeping the area around them. then it came to him. He looked down at Rinoa, a small smile crossing his face as she looked up at him.  
  
"Do you remember the first real promise that I ever made to you?" he asked her in a soft voice, brushing his finger lightly down her cheek and into her hair.  
  
She frowned for a moment, as if straining to remember, and then finally, she looked up at him, her mouth gaping a little and she put a hand to the side of her face, cupping her hand over his, smiling.  
  
"I promised that if you were ever searching for me, that if you were ever afraid that you'd never find me, to come here.. And I would be here." He whispered, a smile crossing his face, "And here we met. just like I promised."  
  
Fresh tears poured down Rinoa's face as she smiled up at Squall. He embraced her in another hug, and this time they stayed like this. The crickets chirped all around them and the crashing waves could still be heard. A shooting star crossed the sky, and they stared at it.  
  
"Dreams do come true." Rinoa whispered. The crickets chirped happily around them, and the breeze came though softly as they kissed.  
  
Still grasping Aurora's hand tightly, Sirus swam with all his might to get away. People dived in all around them, and grabbed at their feet. Sirus and Aurora kicked back with all the strength they could, while swimming at the same time.  
  
Time was running out, if they went to the surface, they'd be caught, and if they stayed under, they'd drown. Sirus couldn't allow either to happen, but his breath was catching up with him, they were running out of options. They had to choose: be caught, or die.  
  
Sirus looked around frantically; he was terrified. In the greenish murky water ahead there was a patch of pitch black, it appeared to be some sort of a hole. He wasn't sure what it was but he pointed it out to Aurora who nodded frantically to go to it. With all their might, they swam towards the hole.  
  
The soldiers dove in all around them, and they were trapped. Sirus and Aurora were nearly out of breath; another thirty seconds and they would be gone. They had to reach the surface; there was no way to get to the hole.  
  
Suddenly, Aurora shook her hand out of Sirus' and swam forward, towards the soldiers blocking their way. Sirus swam after her, but before he could get to her, she'd already acted. A great blast of water exploded, the water seemed to glow bright blue for a few moments and the soldiers that were in front of her floated upwards; dead.  
  
Sirus stopped, looking around, the soldiers who were untouched by the blast were swimming away fearfully. Sirus looked back at Aurora, and his eyes widened. She was now floating upwards, not holding her breath. she was unconscious.  
  
In a panic he swam quickly and grabbed her around the waist. If they reached the surface they'd be caught, he would take the chance in the hole. He swam with all his might, carrying her at his side, towards the hole.  
  
At a closer look it appeared that they'd reached the side of the land and were swimming into a cave. Sirus, however, didn't pay much attention because of his rush into the cave. His air was running out and he was beginning to swim upward, unknowing of what good it would do.  
  
He was unaware, a few seconds later, that they'd reached the surface, and were floating in the ocean water the large cavern above them. He breathed in a large, deep breath of air. Aurora suddenly coughed and sputtered. Water spewed from her mouth, and she coughed more. She raised her head and looked at Sirus, "Hey," she said faintly, smirking.  
  
Sirus smiled broadly, a quite suddenly, kissed her. For a moment they stayed that way, in the water, floating, and kissing. Once they pulled back, Sirus opened his eyes and looked at her, "We made it!" he whispered, "We're alive!"  
  
Aurora nodded happily. At that they began to look around at their surroundings. When they'd first reached the surface, they didn't notice the greenish tint in the air. It was hardly noticeable, really. About twenty feet from where they were, there was a ridge type feature, coming out of the water. It did an arch around the entire cave and several paths came out into it. They swam to the part in front of them and climbed up, looking around.  
  
The cave began about fifty feet away, where the tunnel from the ocean came in, and was about twenty-five feet high, creating a large arch downwards. The cave appeared to be in a round type shape, and they assumed, underwater followed the same type of pattern.  
  
"I suppose that we're between the ocean level and the above land.." said Sirus, looking around, touching the rock wall. He looked at the cave entrances from the arch of rock; there were a good ten caves other than the one that they were standing in front of, "Or there's some sort of an air pocket in here."  
  
"But what is this place?" he frowned.  
  
Aurora was staring that the water, Sirus looked at her. "Aurora?" she didn't answer, just stared at the water in which they came from. "What is it?" he asked her.  
  
She pointed numbly. Sirus saw a shape, a very large and spiky shape, moving beneath the surface of the water. Sirus backed up, pulling Aurora with him. They both pulled their eyes off of the shape and looked at each other.  
  
"What do you think it is?" she said.  
  
"I don't know." he frowned, "But I don't think we should be here when it decides to come to the surface."  
  
Aurora nodded her agreement and looked around, at all the cave entrances. She ignored the one in front of them and noticed the one two entrances to the left. She walked up to it and looked down it, "This one looks like it goes somewhere," she said.  
  
Sirus looked down the cave and nodded, noticing the slope downwards, which was shallow, "Should we? We don't know what's down there."  
  
Aurora tilted her head towards the water, "And we don't know what that is either. What do you want to take your chances with?"  
  
Sirus saw her point and no sooner were they headed down the mysterious cave entrance, away from the ocean water. 


	14. 27,28

Chapter XXVII......The Finding  
  
"WHAT!?!?!" Adel roared at the soldiers; her wrath was upon them. Dean, who stood silently in the shadows against a crate, smirked at the soldiers' terrified reactions.  
  
The air suddenly seemed to still as the soldiers, cowering in front of the sorceress, shivered; the air-cooled and she towered over them all. They had just told her of Aurora and Sirus' escape into the ocean.  
  
"DO YOU IMBISILS HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS?" she shrieked, her arms flailing angrily, her eyes flashing with lethal anger.  
  
Nobody answered; they were too afraid of what she might do to them if they responded. Adel stared at them all, her breath was quick, and with deep intakes. "Why," she said in a deadly quiet voice, "Aren't any of you answering me?"  
  
Still, not one person stepped forward to answer her - it was enough as it was to have had to tell her that the sorceress and her knight had escaped.  
  
"Fine," she growled, she slowly forward. It was amazing how much a small movement petrified the soldiers. "I will answer that myself." Her icy glare touching each man, "IT MEANS THAT I WILL DIE WITHIN THE DAY!" she hollered.  
  
The soldiers were stunned by this, yet at the same time, did not feel any sorrow for the woman. they loathed her. However, they still shared the bond that held them to her. they couldn't go against her, could they?  
  
One of the commanding soldiers stepped forward, "W.What exactly do you mean?" he looked around at his comrades, "We don't u.understand."  
  
Adel's icy glower turned to him; his eyes widened in fright and he stepped backwards, tripping over a small box. "It means, "she said with vehement coldness, "That I will die because I do not have her to feed from. She was my life force; she kept me alive with her power.  
  
"Now, I have to find the Crystal within this day otherwise I will die. Do you know what will happen to you men if I die?" she narrowed her eyes, "Not only my wrath will be upon your souls, but because my Knight," she gestured back towards Dean, "will still be alive, you will be under his order. His wrath will make you think twice about ever disobeying an order again."  
  
The commanding soldier stood up, "With all do respect, my sorceress, we didn't disobey orders." before he could finish Adel's eyes had flashed with rage and within seconds had him by his neck in a furious rage.  
  
"I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR INSOLENCE!" she broke his neck viciously and threw him over the side of the ship. "Let this be an example to the rest of you." The soldiers nodded numbly, their eyes wide and frightened.  
  
"Now," she continued, her voice in an eerie calm, "We must get this ship to the main land; I must get that Crystal!"  
  
Squall and Rinoa had flown off separately; Squall in the small jet that Rinoa had, and Rinoa in the Roknarag. Squall said he'd head directly to Balamb Garden to see what was going on, while Rinoa wanted to take a quick flight over the continent of Trabia to see if Trabia Garden was all right. (She hadn't been there when the message was sent.)  
  
Rinoa flew over the Grandidi Forest, looking down. She thought of Irvine and Selphie. how they disappeared back in the battle of Esthar. "Are you down there somewhere?" she whispered softly, tears welling in her deep eyes that easily led those so bold as to stare into them into a lost stupor.  
  
Soon enough she was over the vast green forest and was flying over the turquoise ocean, headed towards the great mountain ridges. She took the wheel more steadily in her grasp; flying had always racked her nerves. She flew lower.  
  
As she flew up and over a mountain she saw that there was a wide space, where only a thin layer of snow covered the vast grassland. She also noticed that two people walked side by side. To her, they were hardly but a dot; but to the two people walking towards her, the jet was a ray of hope.  
  
As she got closer she noticed that the smaller person was jumping up and down, as if to signal her. Rinoa made a quick decision to land, even though she couldn't yet figure out the people coming towards her.  
  
The Roknarag settled on the ground evenly and lightly; Rinoa opened the cargo hold and came out. The two people were running towards her, but the ray of sunlight shining in her eyes blocked her vision out. Rinoa found this odd since the sky was darkened by storm clouds. She supposed that they were in the eye of a large storm.  
  
As Rinoa walked from the Roknarag onto the cold snow below her she could just make out a dark and small figure running directly at her, while the other walked quickly. Soon enough the small figure reached Rinoa and hugged her so hard it knocked her over.  
  
"RINOA!!!" a familiar voice said excitedly. Rinoa let her vision adjust and she saw. "Selphie?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"Rinoa," said another voice, "Is that you?"  
  
"Of course it is, silly!" said Selphie.  
  
Rinoa was too shocked to even get the words out. Her and Selphie stood up, looking at each other. Rinoa's eyes were wide and surprised, "Selphie? Irvine?" she asked, dubiously. This time Rinoa knocked over both of them, giving them a huge hug at the same time. They all fell to the ground laughing.  
  
"You guys're alive?" Rinoa said in shock, "I can't believe it! I just can't believe it! This must be a dream!" Her eyes were wide, and her gaping; a smile was arising.  
  
Irvine pinched Rinoa on the leg. She flinched. "Nope! It's not a dream!" he said happily. Rinoa grinned fully now, "Hmm, maybe." she pinched both of them.  
  
"OUCH!" they shouted at the same time.  
  
Rinoa laughed, "Definitely NOT a dream!" she said ecstatically. Her smile faded a little. "What are you guys doing here? What happened to you?" she asked.  
  
They looked at each other and grinned broadly. "Well you see," started Irvine, "It's a long story."  
  
Selphie cut him off, "Too long to tell now," she smiled, "We'll tell later! First lets get back to the Garden!" suddenly she frowned, "We've been so anxious and worried. What happened in the battle? Where's Squall? Where are Aurora and Sirus? Is Adel dead?"  
  
Rinoa's smile faded as well, "That," she said, playing with her shirt sleeve, "Is also a long story, one that we'll speak about when we get back to the Garden. Let's get going!" She stood up, and they followed suit.  
  
"Wow," said Irvine, "I don't think that I've seen this before." He was staring at the Roknarag, "It looks so much like the Ragnarok!"  
  
"Yeah, it's Dr. Odine's." Rinoa said lightly.  
  
"Dr. Odine? Isn't that the sorceress doctor dude?"  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
"Then, why do you have his ship?"  
  
Rinoa was about to launch into explanation about why they had the ship, but decided to leave it for now, saying, "That is part of the story, as well."  
  
"I see."  
  
They walked up into the Roknarag and closed the cargo hold. "Can I fly?" Selphie asked. Rinoa looked at Selphie skeptically, though, her face was set and determined, as though to prove to herself that she wasn't afraid of flying anymore.  
  
"Alright," Rinoa said.  
  
"Tee-hee," Selphie sat in the pilot's seat. "Where to?" she had taken the Roknarag into the air and they were now hovering over the snowy landscape.  
  
"Balamb Garden," said Rinoa, "Squall said it was somewhere on the ocean, near the continent. Head North West."  
  
Selphie looked confused but shrugged and turned the Roknarag. They look off at great speed toward the Garden.  
  
"Ready?" Landers asked.  
  
The Ragnarok hovered directly over Trabia Garden. They had expected a landing, however, the Garden was in panic and riot. it would be too dangerous to actually land inside the Garden perimeter itself. They decided the best way would be to hover and drop in by ropes. If they needed out then they would call on the Ragnarok.  
  
"Ready," Laguna asked, though, it was more of a statement than a question. He glanced at a nervous Kiros beside him. He knew how nervous Kiros would be, since he was probably just as nervous, if not more so.  
  
"Soldiers!" Landers called their attention, "Ready?" they all nodded. "Arm yourselves," the soldiers had a gun in one hand, a rope in another, ready to let it drop and slide, "Drop your ropes." The ropes dropped and the soldiers were ready for the order.  
  
Landers paused, looking at them all. His eyes turned deep and sad, "May the great Hyne be with you." He nodded and the soldiers dropped into the Garden. Landers now looked at Laguna and Kiros, "Let's go." They dropped their ropes and left the Ragnarok.  
  
Laguna felt his feet hit the ground and he had his machine gun up instantly. Landers and Kiros landed beside him. Almost immediately opposing soldiers, Estharian soldiers, swarmed them.  
  
Laguna had to remember that they were no longer 'his' soldiers, but Adel's. He had to remember that hesitation is death.  
  
"Come on," Landers shouted, "We have to fight our way through. We must reach the command center of this Garden where the headmaster is. The soldiers will clear the perimeter and exterminate the opposing soldiers and bar the gates to the Garden."  
  
Landers ran ahead, Laguna and Kiros followed. As they fought their way through Laguna noticed that at times some of the soldiers almost recognized Laguna and were hesitant to fight. As the soldiers stared Laguna in the eye, they instantly dropped dead. Laguna figured this was likely due to a bond that Adel put on them; if they were hesitant of serving her demands, they would die.  
  
Laguna shook his head; these soldiers were doing this unwillingly, they didn't want to fight but they had to protect their lives. These soldiers had families; they had wives, daughters, and friends.  
  
"DON'T KILL THEM!" Laguna yelled at the Galbadian soldiers, "INJURE THEM, TAKE THEM DOWN - BUT DO NOT KILL THEM!"  
  
Sadly, nobody heard him. He kept going regardless, remembering that hesitation would be the death of him.  
  
It seemed to take hours, but realistically, only minutes to find their way to the center of the Garden where they would then call in the Balamb Garden force. As they reached the door a messenger ran to them panting.  
  
"Soldiers." he said, "Everywhere. outside.. Garden.. Too many." he could hardly get the words out.  
  
"Take a deep breath," said Kiros, stepping up to the messenger, "What are you saying."  
  
The messenger, appearing to only be about sixteen, caught his breath. "There are soldiers everywhere! We barred the gates of the Garden, but they're coming through. The postmen at the gates told me to give you the message. there must be about seven thousand."  
  
Landers, Kiros and Laguna were all dumbstruck. They didn't expect so many soldiers. With the Garden and the Galbadian army there were only two thousand troops. They needed more help.  
  
"What's your name?" Landers asked the boy.  
  
"Riley," he said.  
  
"Riley, head back to the gates, tell the soldiers to do anything. absolutely anything.. to keep out those soldiers! Here," he gave Riley a small pouch with a bottle, "It's water, drink it before you go." Riley drank the water and bolted towards the gates.  
  
"We're in trouble." Landers said, turning back to Laguna and Kiros, "We definitely have to come up with a new plan. or else," he ran a finger across his neck, "we're dead."  
  
Chapter XXVIII.......Qustoia  
  
"Come on, closer now!" Dean demanded. The driver of the large vehicle turned towards the great fissure, which was now bezerk, and stopped.  
  
Adel had ordered the entire soldier force to remain hidden by the mountains, in case anyone had found a way to into the great crack in the ground. They were her defense outside of the fissure, however, Adel only had power enough to bring one other through the great crack, and that was Dean.  
  
Dean smacked the driver in the back of the head, 'I said closer!'. The driver edged closer to the cliff, close enough that if they looked directly out the side windows they were able to look directly down.  
  
"Close enough," Adel hissed, we don't need to be this close to perform the spell. We could have walked!"  
  
"But, my sorceress, you are weak! We will have enough walking in the caves, you have only strength enough to perform this spell and retrieve the crystal." Dean argued.  
  
Adel glared icily at Dean, "Are telling me that I'm weak?" she said with vehement anger. Even though she sat, Dean still seemed to cower beneath her rage.  
  
"N.No my sorceress," he simpered, "I.I simply meant that you must save your strength, for once you have the crystal none can stop you!"  
  
Adel's glare did not waver, however, a frightening smirk crossed her face. "Precisely, and you are wrong. I have power enough to defend myself against any possible interferences," she drawled. Her smirk vanished and her already serious face veered at him, "However, there is still one type of magic that can stop me from using the awesome powers of the Crystal."  
  
Dean's face converted to confusion, "But I thought that the crystal provided infinite magic to the one who wields it. it is the source of all magic in this world!"  
  
"Yes," Adel said, her eyes narrowed, "But you must know that for every spell or action in this world, there is one that can prevent it as well. Of course the one who created this crystal did not intend for there to be a possibility of reversal, however, the possibility stands."  
  
"Who made the crystal? Who has the ability to stop it?" Dean asked anxiously.  
  
Adel stared at Dean for a moment, as if considering him. "By now you must have heard myth's of the great Hyne?" Dean nodded as Adel continued, "Well, the myth's are indeed true. to a certain extent, of course. You see, Hyne was always considered a good man. the father of magic. But no. he was pure evil. Much like myself, I'm sure." She added, almost proudly.  
  
"Magic did not exist until Hyne came into existence. and it is still a mystery as to how he wielded magic, but, it is known that he was the first." Adel looked almost thoughtful as she continued, "When I was a child, learning of magic, I learned of Hyne's life in the ancient notes and records. It is said that Hyne, being rejected by society for his gift, or curse as they referred to it, became lonely. and turned to - more sensible practices."  
  
Adel paused. "Hyne had solid belief's that his gift should live on forever. However, it almost seemed impossible for him to wed another to create offspring with the gift of magic because none would take him. Hyne turned to exploring his gift; devising ways to have to gift live on, and after years of doing so, came up with one possible plan. He had come up with a way to make his magic impossible to penetrate, to make it infinite. By using all aspects of his personality and abilities he created an ultimate power. a kind of webbed force that none could break. He figured he could rule the world, and by ruling the world, he'd have someone to pass his gift onto. Yet, there was one piece of the puzzle in which he did lack. Love."  
  
Dean stared, "Love? What does that have to do with anything?" He said in pure disgust.  
  
"Don't you see? By using all of his abilities he created a web of magic, more powerful then we could even fathom, yet, because he lacked the ability to love there is a gap in the web. That gap was his downfall."  
  
Dean remained silent.  
  
"Hyne, at full power with none knowing of his weakness, took kingdom after kingdom under his power. At his peak in power he realized that although he had all the power in the world, he had none to pass it on to, for his rush of having ultimate power blinded him to the fact that he would still die. He eventually decided that being at full power he could then have any women he desired. and provide her with limited magic for them to create offspring that would wield the mix of their magic. He chose Qustoia."  
  
"Qustoia?"  
  
"Qustoia was a princess of the Kingdom he had first taken over. she was very well known for her grace and beauty along with her strength and determination. Hyne took Qustoia under his power and provided her with magic. He did not expect that Qustoia would willingly fall over to him. so he thrust a spell over her, causing her lose all of her memories so he would have virtually full control over what she knew." Adel smirked again, "A smart idea, however, it caused the beginning of his downfall.  
  
"Casting this spell, although erasing what she knew, did not erase her actual past; Qustoia had a husband. Sesoris the Great, he was known as. He was the leader of the Kingdom's army until Hyne took over. Sesoris, angered beyond imagining, went after Hyne, searching everywhere until at last he found him. Sesoris had battled past Hyne's minions until at last, in Hyne's great palace, confronted Hyne with nothing more than a sword. Hyne laughed at Sesoris' sword, knowing that a simple spell could kill him, but no, he wanted to kill Sesoris with his bare hands. Taking a sword in hand, they battled; they battled until Qustoia found them."  
  
Dean could tell that Adel's voice was becoming hoarse as she paused.  
  
"Qustoia had become an evil and ruthless woman, by Hyne's doing, and many feared her. As she saw them battle she smiled, hoping that she would see blood, the blood of Sesoris. Yet, the presence of Sesoris made her feel strange. it reminded her of something. but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The battle continued, and as Qustoia slipped into clear view of Sesoris, he stopped fighting for a moment, but long enough for him to be knocked off his feet and have a blade across his neck. It was then that it all came flooding back to Qustoia. all the memories. the love. It was at that moment that Hyne met his ultimate downfall."  
  
"How could that have happened?" Dean asked, perplexed by the unfolding story.  
  
"The Love. Dean. The Love." Adel's face was sour. "As I said before. it was his downfall. When he provided Qustoia with her magic it did not include the element of love, for he did not have it, but in her past she had loved with all her heart. That love was enveloped in the magic that Hyne provided her with, like a caterpillar in a cocoon, ready to sprout into a butterfly. When Hyne was near murdering Sesoris her love exploded though her mind and heart, bringing back all of her memories. her magic had become a butterfly while Hyne's was still a caterpillar. As this happened, Qustoia used all of her strength to pull Hyne from Sesoris, though, instead of pulling his body away, she pulled his magic away. Hyne collapsed, utterly lost without his magic. Sesoris finished him off."  
  
It seemed impossible for Adel's face to be more disgusted. "Hyne's magic was turned into crystal, not being within his soul. Qustoia and Sesoris hid it away in the great caves and Qustoia used her magic to secure the entrance of the caves. All who were taken under the power of Hyne praised Qustoia and her spell of magic was named after her."  
  
"In some ways I almost respect Qustoia, for she and Sesoris created offspring wielding magic and the chain continued. She is the mother of magic. In most ways, however, I loath that she destroyed the greatest ruler of all time."  
  
"But what does this all have to do with preventing your supreme power, my sorceress?" Dean asked timidly, still mystified by the history of the great Hyne.  
  
"When I retrieve the Crystal, which when added to my power will make me immortal, I will still lack the love required to make the spell complete. That leaves me vulnerable to the power of Qustoia. If the sorceress were to use the power, and have the strength of Qustoia flow through her, it could very well be the end of me. Fortunately, it is quite unlikely. we are so close.  
  
"Once I retrieve the Crystal I plan to rid the world of all magic but my own, leaving me in full power!" Adel cried victoriously.  
  
"How will we get into the caves, if you say she sealed them off?"  
  
"All performed spells, ones not within the soul, eventually fade."  
  
Dean smiled. "And what of the sorceress and knight?"  
  
Adel cold eyes turned towards the great crack. "Do not worry. once I rid them of magic, I will let you do what you like with them. The mother and father as well."  
  
Dean's grin grew wide. "Thank you, my sorceress."  
  
"Now, let us get that Crystal!" Adel boomed.  
  
She closed her eyes, lifted her arms and muttered words in which Dean could not understand. In a flash of red light they were standing in a large circular cave. Dean looked around the cave; it was bigger than anything he'd ever seen.  
  
Icicles hung in random spots, and the air was freezing. The cave, sheathed in ice, must have been the size of Timber alone. They were standing on a ridge that circled that cave and quite a ways from them was a path that led straight into the middle of the cave.  
  
Dean found this strange seeing as how there was nothing holding up the path, it was just the rock with an icy sheet over it. Below the path seemed to be oblivion. He followed the path with his eyes until he saw a circular landing with a trail on the other side. In the middle of the landing, about six feet in mid-air came a faint white light; it was the Crystal. The source of all the ice. 


	15. 29,30 the end unfinished

Chapter XXIX..... A Fighting Chance  
  
Laguna, Kiros and Landers had finally reached the command centre. As the battle raged on, as soldiers fought for their lives; they rushed to find a way to defeat the unbeatable Estharians.  
  
"Do you have any aircrafts?" Landers asked the headmaster.  
  
The headmaster shook his head sadly, "No. they went down during battle."  
  
"What is your current ratio of soldiers?" Laguna asked, his arms crossed against his chest. He glanced out the window, into the bright blue ocean. Sunlight was drifting towards them, and so was a large shape.  
  
"Approximately 12000 Estharians, versus about -" he shuddered, ". 2000 of our soldiers."  
  
"That's six to one!" Kiros cried, stamping his foot, clearly in frustration.  
  
Laguna stared out the window, still, into the ocean at the approaching shape. It looked oddly familiar, could it be?  
  
He touched Landers' arm. "Hey," he said, quietly, "Do you know what that shape is?"  
  
"Huh?" Landers asked, bad-temperedly, "What are you on about, Loire?"  
  
"Don't you see it?" Laguna asked, gesturing to the dark shape, imprinted against the on-coming bright skies.  
  
Landers stared out the window, finally seeing it. "What is it?"  
  
Laguna frowned, looking at Landers. "That's why I asked you!"  
  
Just as he finished scolding Landers, the COM system began buzzing with a voice. "Needin' a bit a help?" the familiar voice said.  
  
Laguna almost jumped for joy. he knew the voice. He stole a quick glance towards the oncoming shape, which was now clear against the sky, and almost reaching land. It was Galbadia Garden. and the voice was none other then Lexi.  
  
"Lexi!" Laguna said excitedly into the microphone, "What are you doing?" He was both worried and happy. He couldn't decide on which.  
  
"Well, lets just say that I know some people. important people. We talked." She said, brightly, "I was able to travel to the Garden - and, well, I'll tell you later. We have a war to win and I have four thousand eager soldiers on board, who're ready to kick some Estharian ass."  
  
Laguna smiled broadly, "That's my girl," he whispered.  
  
"Four thousand soldiers!" Kiros almost yelled, "Man! We might actually have a chance now!"  
  
Laguna turned quickly to Landers, wondering what he was thinking. "Any objections?"  
  
Landers smiled, "Not a word," he said, "Except - let this be the time that all of the Gardens and Galbadia unite as one - to set aside our differences and fight as real warriors do - as our ancestors did." He put a hand on Laguna's shoulder, "And let this be the time that two enemies join to help one another."  
  
Laguna smirked. The words ran over and over through his head. He took the receiver of the COM system and said, "Bring'em in!"  
  
Lexi's voice came through, like music to Laguna's ears. "Great! We have an air strike ready to attack. Just give us the go ahead and they will be there in thirty seconds. Our army will land on foot and attack from the back." She paused.  
  
"The headmaster would like a word with Landers."  
  
Laguna handed Landers the receiver as Martine's voice echoed through. "President Landers," the headmaster said formally, "Despite our past differences - our problems - I have come to see that we are still bound to one another as Galbadians. We must withhold the honour of our country and work together as one to accomplish what is to be done. That includes Balamb and Timber. Soldiers from all over the world have come to join our force, to help you and the Estharian President defeat Adel's army. I'm sorry for not realizing this sooner, when this could have been prevented."  
  
Landers smiled, "I thank-you. And," he added, his smile fading, "I'd like to apologize for any problems Galbadia has caused for the Garden - any Garden, for that matter. We welcome you, and hope that we will prosper together in this battle."  
  
The COM was silent for a moment. Lexi's voice came back on. "We will land in less than two minutes. We have already seen the approaching Balamb soldiers. There looks to be approximately 1000. We will join them and attack to soldiers in the outer rim, working our way in."  
  
"Good. Send the air strike in five minutes, and give instructions to have them hit the soldiers at the gate. I will have our soldiers retreat at that time."  
  
"Right," Lexi said.  
  
"And," Laguna added quietly, "Thank-you"  
  
The COM system went quiet, but he could faintly hear, "My pleasure, president."  
  
The room was quiet for a moment. Rays of sunlight. or hope. beamed through the window.  
  
"We must clear the gate," Laguna said quietly, "I'll send a messenger."  
  
Although the moment was serious, and silent, they all smiled and laughed. They did, after all, have a chance at the battle now.  
  
"WOW!" Selphie nearly shouted. They flew over the ocean towards Trabia. The land looked as though it were moving. Soldiers filled the gaps between the mountains in the Trabia Garden region.  
  
"Great Hyne." Irvine muttered.  
  
The moment was grim. All that they could see was Esthar soldiers, surrounding the tiny, defenceless Garden.  
  
"Look!" Rinoa suddenly shouted, giving them a start, "It's the Balamb, and Galbadian soldiers -" she looked out the window carefully, "There must be at least six thousand there, if not more!"  
  
"But look at all the Estharian soldiers," Irvine pointed out, "There's loads of'em!"  
  
Selphie and Rinoa said nothing. All of them were quite shocked at the intense war beneath them. Occasionally they saw a started soldier look up at them.  
  
"Whoa!" Selphie said, "Isn't that Seifer?"  
  
"And Quistis?"  
  
"And Squall!"  
  
Vaguely, they saw the three battling next to Balamb soldiers, working their way through the army. Not far away they also saw Zell and Clarissa, fighting next to Dawn and Jem.  
  
"FIRAGA!" Squall yelled in rage as an Estharian soldier caught him off guard. He fought next to Seifer and Quistis.  
  
Although it was odd for them, after Squall came back, they still decided to put aside any disputes between one another, and fight the battle. When Squall had arrived in the Garden, Seifer anxiously awaited him. Refusing an apology from both of them, Squall explained that he and Rinoa had seen one another, and made their peace.  
  
Though, it would take time for any. awkwardness to pass.  
  
Squall felt strange to be fighting along with the Galbadians. especially since the Garden army had arrived. According to their leader, a woman called 'Lexi', they gathered up soldiers from the Balamb Island, Timber, and the Garden.  
  
As they fought through the Estharian soldiers, Squall could see the gates clearly. They had been blown wide open by the air strike only minutes before. The goal was to get through those gates and reach Laguna - to secure the Garden premises and fight off the soldiers.  
  
For once, Squalls mind was almost at ease. They finally had that break they'd been waiting for. He thought about the impossible odds they'd been facing. The possibility of winning before the reinforcements had arrived was almost none.  
  
It wasn't long before Seifer, Quistis and Squall reached the blown gates of the Garden. After a brief rendezvous with a messenger boy named Riley, they fought they're way through the thick mound of soldiers.  
  
As they battled their way through, with Balamb and Galbadian soldiers in their wake; they slowly secured the premises of the Garden's interior. As they fought, often Squall almost smiled. It seemed just like olden days.  
  
He thought about Rinoa and Aurora often. and he worried. Where was Rinoa now? What was happening to Aurora?  
  
Through the loud clashing to weapons and gun shooting, Squall could hear, faintly, his name being called. He stretched his head over the thinning crowd to see who it was.  
  
In the distance, close the entrance of the Garden, he caught a glimpse of Laguna, waving them over. Squall gestured for Seifer and Quistis to follow him as he made his way through the disperse crowd.  
  
Before he knew it, they had reached Laguna. He was standing with Kiros and another man.  
  
"Squall," Laguna nodded, a smirk upon his face.  
  
Squall stood for a moment, his back straight, and then out of nowhere, he embraced the man in a long and hearty hug. "Good to see you. dad."  
  
Laguna was a little surprised, and almost looked slightly relieved as Squall pulled away. "And you," he said. He looked to his left, "This," he gestured to the unknown man, "Is President Landers. of Galbadia. And you obviously know Kiros."  
  
Squall smiled at Kiros, and turned to President Landers, "Pleased to be of service," he said.  
  
"Oh, don't be silly," Landers chuckled heartily, "You don't have to address me with such formality. Treat me as you would," he paused, thinking, "Any old friend." He finished.  
  
"So," Laguna smiled, "Looks like we're not necessarily beaten after all."  
  
Squall shook his head, and then frowned. "Do you know this 'Lexi' woman, who leads the Galbadian army?"  
  
Squall was surprised by the look in Laguna's eyes. It was something he only ever saw when they spoke of Raine.  
  
"You could say I do."  
  
"Wha -" Squall was cut off.  
  
"How was your trip in Galbadia? We were all quite curious." Quistis demanded, though, politely.  
  
Laguna glanced at Landers. "It went. well."  
  
"So," said Seifer, "Do you know what our plan is now?"  
  
"To first have to Garden well secured, and work our way out, slowly defeating the oncoming Estharians. There's not much else we can do in this position," Kiros said.  
  
Laguna looked at Squall, "So I guess that means we'd best get to work, doesn't it?"  
  
Squall smiled back, "And I'd be pleased to fight beside such a top-notch soldier."  
  
Kiros laughed suddenly, "I'd better come with, in case Laguna decides that you need a map to secure the Garden area."  
  
Chapter XXX........ The Crystal  
  
"I just don't get it," said Aurora exasperatedly, shivering uncontrollably, "Where is this tunnel going?"  
  
They had journeyed along the tunnel leading off from the large cave they'd come up in for nearly three hours. The greenish tint in the air had faded and the gentle slope steadily went downwards. The air had gradually gotten cooler until it was almost unbearable.  
  
"I don't understand either, Aurora." Sirus murmured, stopping in his tracks and crossing his arms for warmth, "We've traveled along this path for three hours now and its still sloping down! I figured that after a little while it'd flatten and then take an upward turn."  
  
Aurora nodded. Her teeth were chattering slightly. "Isn't it supposed to get hot when you go below the surface?" Aurora asked, looking questionably at Sirus.  
  
"Yeah," he replied, "I don't know why it's so cold. Something's definitely fishy. I don't think this is an ordinary cave."  
  
Aurora's eyebrows raised, "Then what do you think it is?"  
  
Sirus shook his head. He touched the wall of the cave. "It's warm," he whispered. "Why would it be warm? The air is freezing."  
  
"Maybe we should go back and see where the other tunnels lead," Aurora suggested, "Maybe one of them leads to the surface."  
  
"Maybe." Sirus muttered, examining the stonewall closely. He strained to think of why the walls of the cave would be warm, but the air would be so cold. It must have something to do with magic, he concluded.  
  
"I think that we should keep going," said Sirus, "See where the tunnel leads. We can always turn back once it ends."  
  
"I suppose," said Aurora, "And it'll give us more time, seeing as how Adel is searching for us. Even if she sends men in here, they won't know which tunnel. If they come this way, they'll turn back eventually, I'm sure." Aurora didn't know whom she was trying to convince, herself, or Sirus. Somehow, however, she doubted Adel or her men would ever stop searching.  
  
After another hour of traveling down the cold tunnel, which had now taken a steeper drop downwards, they saw a turn.  
  
"That's odd," Sirus murmured, "This tunnel has been going straight -" he thought for a moment, and then concluded, " - at least since we stopped last."  
  
Aurora looked at him thoughtfully, "Your right." she gave a violent shiver, "C'mon, let's keep moving, it keeps us warm."  
  
Soon enough, they reached the turn, which, turned quite suddenly and hard to the left. Sirus put out his hand, signalling Aurora to slow down. He peered around the corner cautiously, assuring that the coast was clear for them to keep going.  
  
"Whoa." Sirus whispered. He moved forwards around the corner, followed closely by Aurora.  
  
"What?" Aurora asked anxiously, straining her neck to see over Sirus' shoulder.  
  
They rounded the corner completely and came into a short hall, where, at the entrance, they could see a huge cave covered in ice. The entrance of the tunnel was wide and off to the far right they saw a brilliant white light, where a twinkling crystal hovered about six feet in the air in the middle of a long pathway that stretched across the entire cave. Aurora found this curious, seeing as how there were no pillars holding it up.  
  
"What is that?" Aurora murmured quietly to herself. Apparently Sirus heard her.  
  
"I think it's. a Crystal."  
  
Aurora looked at the cave entrance. Icicles hung around the top and a thin layer of ice framed the opening. It looked as though the crystal was the source of the ice, for every bit of rock the ice touched was covered in a thin layer of frost or ice.  
  
"But," Sirus seemed to still be in the same frame of mind, "What would such a crystal be doing abandoned way down here? It must be dangerous."  
  
Aurora nodded numbly. Her eyes were fixed on the crystal. Strangely, a weird hunger awoke inside of her. it was almost as though all she wanted was the crystal. nothing but the crystal.  
  
"Watch it!" Sirus grabbed the back of Aurora's shirt to stop her. She was walking forwards, onto the ice, and nearly fell off the side of the path. She looked down. it was complete blackness. oblivion.  
  
She looked around the cave. Something, other then the crystal, caught her eye. There was movement on the other side of the large tunnel. but who. or what could it be?  
  
She tugged Sirus' sleeve. "Do you see that?" she pointed almost directly across from them at the two figures.  
  
Sirus squinted and stared across the inconceivably large cave. He took a sudden step back and looked at Aurora in complete fright. "It's Adel!"  
  
Aurora gasped, "What? It can't be, can it?" She looked back across the cave and she knew. One of the figures was quite large, the other, about the size of Sirus, from what she could tell.  
  
"It is. We've got to get out of here! C'mon!" Sirus yanked her sleeve to get her going. They reached the corner of the cave entrance and Aurora stopped, stubbornly.  
  
"Aurora, C'mon!" Sirus said again.  
  
"No, wait," she looked back across the cave in thought, "They probably haven't even seen us. and what if Adel's after that Crystal?"  
  
"Well, why else would she be down here?" Sirus said savagely, "C'Mon!" He tried pulling her again but she wouldn't budge. She was staring at the two figures, moving towards the small pathway. They were headed towards the Crystal. She felt a mad hunger for the crystal as well as the desire to stop Adel from getting it. She hesitated for a moment but in a blink she tore out of Sirus' grasp and ran towards the edge of the small pathway on the right.  
  
"What are you doing? No!" Sirus said loudly, which seemed to have caught their attention. He could see Adel halt on the other side of the cave and turn backwards to give the man instructions. Within a moment he saw the man start running on the side paths of the cave towards him.  
  
Sirus hesitated. Should he run after Aurora and help her that way or eliminate the oncoming threat. Pulling out the gun blade that he'd gotten when searching for Aurora, he ultimately decided that it would be best to first eliminate the oncoming threat and then go after Aurora.  
  
"Please," he whispered, looking at the running Aurora, "Please be careful. I don't want to lose you."  
  
He took off running at almost full speed towards the man. The closer he got the more the recognized the man - or boy, should he say. Only seconds later, Sirus watching the familiar face pull out a gun blade as well. The two clashed into a raging fight.  
  
Aurora ran down the side pathway, watching Adel shout instructions to the person running away from her. To kill her, Aurora figured. She glanced to the side to see Sirus take off running towards the person still far off. "Thank-you," she whispered.  
  
She slowed down cautiously as she rounded the corner onto the long arch that stretched across the icy cave. Fortunately, it seemed that for some reason, the ice leading up to the gradual arch wasn't very slippery, giving her the chance to gain some time to get to the Crystal. Unfortunately, however, the ice on the actual path she rounded the corner onto was quite slick.  
  
She attempted to proceed along the path slowly but her hunger for the Crystal drove her on. Her legs were working faster than her mind and it wasn't long before she fell. Her right foot slid sideways and her left foot slid forwards. Her momentum brought her feet up in the air and she landed on the icy pathway on her left arm. She heard a large crack and cried out in pain. She'd broken her arm.  
  
"Must. keep . going.. Crystal.." She breathed, shakily crawling to her feet and looking at the oncoming Adel. Luckily, Adel was still quite a ways from the Crystal.  
  
Unfortunately, I won't be finishing the story - there would have only been a few chapters left, but I'm really out of the mode and to get back into would mean going through it all again, and I just don't really have the time or energy.. Sorry for those of you who are reading - at least you'll get to come up with a conclusion on your own - actually, if you really want to, then write one and send it too me. if it makes sense then I'll put it on here, alright? Once again, sorry.. 


End file.
